Jesuit Swimmers Are Tuning Up for the LHSAA State Meet on November 18-19

Sophomore Charles Korndorffer (black suit) and senior Noah Wilkins take off in the 100-yard backstroke.

Into the Lens: View the Photo Gallery of Jesuit Swimmers at the Metro Meet

Placing first in nine of 11 events, Blue Jay swimmers handily won the Allstate Sugar Bowl Metro Championship Meet where their awesome show of strength bodes well for the Jesuit team in the upcoming LHSAA State Championship Tournament.

Eighteen of 21 Jesuit swimmers scored points in the finals of the Metro Meet, which was held Saturday, October 29, at UNO’s Aquatic Center. The win gives Jesuit’s swimming team its 30^th consecutive Metro Meet victory. The Jays have captured first place at every Metro Meet since 1987.

Seniors on Jesuit’s Swim Team display the trophy for placing first in the Metro Meet held Saturday, Oct. 29, at UNO. From left are Justin Leveque, assistant coach Trey Roux ’87, Noah Wilkins, Josh Armond, Jack Jackson, Jonathan Vegh, Seth Gunnels, and head coach Bret Hanemann ’85.

In the 2016 Metro Meet, Jesuit accumulated 561 points for a first place finish, while St. Paul’s was a distant runner-up with 175 points, and Brother Martin was third with 144 points.

The Jays captured six individual events and all three team relays. Senior co-captain Josh Armond was the only swimmer to win two individual events: the 200- and 500-yard freestyle. The Jays swept the 50-yd. freestyle event with senior co-captain Noah Wilkins placing first, senior co-captain Jack Jackson in second place, and sophomore Connor Schwartz taking third place. Other Blue Jays placing first were: freshman Michael Foley (100-yd. freestyle), sophomore Charles Korndorffer (100-yd. backstroke), and Jack Jackson (100-yd. butterfly).

Josh Armond swims the 500-yard freestyle.

After the meet, Armond told Andrew Canulette, prep reporter with The New Orleans Advocate:  “I feel like this team has really bonded.  We have a lot of younger guys, and everyone is coming together; dropping time. We’re getting to the right place.”

“In past years we needed to fill up the 32 slots you need to in order to win state,” said Jesuit swimming Coach Bret Hanemann ’85. “We’ve fallen short the last couple of years. But this year, we exceeded expectations and everybody qualified when they needed to. Times are dropping. This team’s really put itself in a very good situation for the state meet.”

Jesuit swimmers have the state tournament squarely in their sights this year. The state meet takes place November 18-19 at the SPAR Aquatic Center in Sulphur. The Jays are working hard, hitting the pool for practice at 5 a.m., in their efforts to win what would be Jesuit’s 38^th state swimming title and the first since 2012. Jesuit teams have been state runners-up for the past three years.

Coach Hanemann said the Metro Meet yielded a few surprises “in a good way” from some of the younger swimmers who did well qualifying for state times.

“It’s good to see the strength of Jesuit swimming is in its freshmen and sophomores,” he said.

Read More…

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