Brookville, Forest favored in Seminole District swimming meet

Brookville’s girls and Jefferson Forest’s boys teams should swim away with Seminole District championships tonight at the Jamerson Family YMCA, starting at 6:45.

“JF is still the class of the boys,” Brookville coach Hank Reed said. “It’ll be between us and Staunton River for second place.”

While their boys team’s only regular-season loss came against Forest, the Bees’ girls finished undefeated at 11-0 this winter.

“We don’t have that many superstars, just a really good group of solid girls that can swim multiple events, which gives us flexibility,” Reed said.

They do have a budding star in freshman Amber Wingfield, who already has broken Brookville’s school records in the 200 IM, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, bettering the 200 IM and 100 fly marks set by Lauren Hines, now a senior at Cave Spring.

In tonight’s meet, Wingfield will swim the 200 IM, in which she’s seeded five seconds ahead of the second-fastest swimmer, and the 100 free, an off event.

“She should win that at the district level,” Reed said. “The 100 fly and 100 breast are actually her strongest events, and she already has state-qualifying times in those.”

The senior-led Bees also feature Alissa Williams, Brittany Dray and sisters Morgan and Taylor Musgrove.

Morgan is the No. 1 seed in 50 free and 100 breaststroke, but she missed a day or two of school this week with a flu bug that’s gone around Brookville.

Taylor in is seeded second in the 50 free behind her sister and in 100 free behind Wingfield.

“We have depth, we have versatility,” Reed said. “We can put a lot of girls in the top eight scoring in almost every event across the board.”

He compares the strength of his girls to that of JF’s boys.

“Kind of like we have depth in the girls, they have a couple really strong swimmers and they have depth for the boys,” Reid said. “They have Carter Watson, Chad Nowakowski and Caleb Williams, kids who are really good year-round swimmers and have qualified for nationals, plus good depth behind them.”

The Bees’ strongest boys are Kemp Pettyjohn in the 100 IM and 100 backstroke and Jason Brame, a senior who has committed to ODU, who will swim in the 100 fly and 500 free.

“Caleb Williams, a freshman, has a faster entry time in districts than Jason (in the 500),” Reed said.

“That should shape up to be a really good race. Hopefully, with the senior vs. freshman (factor), Jason should pull it out.”

The Bees have had plenty of time to get ready for districts, coming off a two-week layoff.

“The Brookville-JF rivalry has always been there,” Reed said, noting JF swept both the boys and girls competitions last year. “They’ve really had time to look at this meet and to aim for it.”

The top four relays and eight individuals advance to next Saturday’s Region III meet at JMU, with the Group AA state meet set for Feb. 27 and 28 at UVa.