[Breeze]

2021-22 Berry Viking Men’s Swimming Roster

With the season set to kick off this weekend with the team's annual Blue, White & Silver inter-squad and alumni meet, I figured I'd take a minute to update the team roster.

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Alex Bartik (Jr.)
Alex continues to be a very good swimmer for the Vikings. In his two years on the team he's earned 24 points and 23 points, plus he was a regular contributor on the B relays. Last year he finished 9th in the 200 IM, 9th in the 100 Fly, and 12th in the 100 Free. It looks to me like he has the ability to score in 11 of the 13 events, with his best option being the 200 IM. If I were coach I'd be inclined to see if I could get his stamina up a bit to have him compete in the 400 IM, but my bet is he stays in the 200 IM, and the 100 Fly. Due to his versatility, the 3rd option could be just about anything, and will probably be influenced by the events other teammates swim.

Billy Blood (Fr.)
The first of the new freshman class. If you've been reading along for a while you might recognize this name. Billy is the swimmer that fell on Bear's leg during his senior year while playing Ultimate Frisbee and broke his foot. Bear worked hard to get Billy interested in coming to Berry, and Billy nicely fills a void on the team. Even last year with Dylan White winning both the 100 and 200 backstrokes and Bo Dyer making A finals, the team was very soft in that stroke. In fact, those two were the only Berry swimmers in the event, and now with both graduating, the team was potentially staring at a gaping hole in their lineup. Billy will fill part of that hole. He's not going to win the event like Dylan did, but he has the ability to make A finals in both the 100 and 200. His 3rd event will likely be the 200 Fly or 200 IM.

Noah Brand (Jr.)
The top returning point earner (54) from the conference championship meet, Brand is positioned to compete for the conference championship in every event he swims. Last year he finished 2nd in the 50 Free, 1st in the 100 Fly, and 2nd in the 200 Fly. Despite how good that is, it's very likely he won't swim the 200 fly this time around. I suspect, he'll focus more on his sprints and will end up doing the 100 Free instead. He will also be a primary swimmer on all 4 of the A relays he swims, and in fact, could take the primary sprint free role - or he might be the flyer in the medley relays.

Riley Coker (Sr.)
The senior captain, Riley is a nice leader, because he works hard and is very positive, but he's not a great swimmer. As I mentioned in the write up last year, he earns his points by working hard, and he's absolutely the type of guy you want on your side, because he sets a great example and he does whatever he can to help the team. He was a perfect selection for captain, as he's a glue guy that keeps the team together, and he acts as a mentor for a lot of the younger swimmers. Just like in the '19/'20 season he swam the 3 longest events possible, this time the 400 IM, 500 Free, and 1000 Free. As a sophomore he earned 17 points, last year he only managed to get 10. Part of the drop was due to the team fielding a deeper lineup for the 500, including Ross and Bear, which ultimately pushed Riley to 17th and out of the B finals. Riley did have some nice improvements last year though, including a personal best in the 1000 free (not totally surprising because it's probably the first time he's swum it tapered). I suspect he'll continue to swim the grinding events this year and with good training partners maybe he can continue to earn double digit points in conference.

Collin Dillard (Fr.)
The second member of the freshman class. Collin comes to Berry from Thomasville, Georgia, where he set numerous school records. However, he is a breaststroker/freestyler and those are the two deepest strokes on the Vikings' team. Which means he's got work to do just to beat his own teammates. His 100 breast time is a 1:01, which is very solid and would usually be good enough to make the back end of A finals, but with Berry's depth in that stroke, I suspect he'll be staring at a B final. He's never really swum the 200 breast, but the coach will probably train him so he will be ready to roll in that event, and I suspect he'll be good enough there to make the B finals as well. I don't see a natural 3rd event for him. He's not currently fast enough to score in the sprint frees, and he's never done the distance frees so I don't think he'll be able to race the 500 or 1650 effectively. There is one concern with Collin. He's apparently a pretty big partier and given that he's buried on the depth chart in his strokes, there's a possibility that he quits and transfers to a bigger "party" school, which would be a shame because, while he's not a rainmaker with points, he's solid depth and definitely a contributor.

Hunter Erb (Fr.)
Third member of the freshman class, and this one is also a breaststroker, only Hunter is similar to Mason Weaver from last year. To put him into perspective, his personal best in the 100 is 1:08. Because of the large freshman class added to the roster, if everyone stays on the team, and everyone stays eligible, Hunter will likely not be on the 18 man roster for the SAA Championships. To have any shot of making the 18 man roster, he will have to beat Mason Weaver (who is also not guaranteed to make the SAA team) in the 200 breast - which is where he might be able to pull a couple of backend points.

Abraham Figueroa (Fr.)
Originally the fourth member of the freshman class, but it appears that he's decided not to swim. Not a huge loss, as he would likely have not made the 18 man conference team either.

Kevin Fuentes-Bonilla (Jr.)
A diver only, that benefits from a lack of competitors in his event. Kevin was able to earn 12 points last year at the conference meet, and while he may finish last in diving, and he may only do the 1 Meter and not the 3 Meter, those 12 points will almost certainly be sufficient to keep him on the conference team. If he could add the 3 meter to his schedule, he could earn another 10 to 12 points just by showing up.

Andrew Horn (Fr.)
Andrew is the 5th freshman and 1st of 3 from North Gwinnett High School. Andrew is another breaststroker and he goes sub 60 (59.12) in the 100, which is typically good enough to place in the A final. His 200 Breast is also in A final range. His 3rd event will likely be the 200 IM, as his personal best would fall in the B finals. It's possible based on the schedule of events that the 200 IM and one of the breaststrokes might be on the same day. If that's the case, they might move him to a different 3rd event, but I believe the 200 IM is still his best chance to score on the 3rd event, even if he has to double up 1 day.

Hunter Kenny (So.)
Hunter is one of the 5 freshman from last year who earned at least 30 points for the team at conference. He managed to make 2 A finals, in the 50 and 100 frees, finishing 7th in both, and he was the top swimmer in the B final (9th) of the 200 free. He has a chance to make 3 A finals this year, and he'll be under serious consideration to be the primary freestyle swimmer on all sprint relays. I fully expect him to produce at least low to mid 30 points this season.

Ryan MacKinnon (So.)
The second of the freshman from last year who earned at least 30 points. Ryan was one of the primary breaststrokers last year. He competed to be the top breaststroker on the team and did well enough to finish 5th in the 100 breast and 4th in the 200 breast at conference. While his placing of 4th and 5th were really strong, his time in the 100 at conference was 59.66, which puts him middle of the pack on the team in this stroke for '21/'22. Interestingly, knowing the team was deep in the breast for this season, and recognizing the lack of backstrokers, he apparently focused on that during the offseason. Now what he ultimately swims will be a mystery, probably right up until conference. Even with the deep breast group, his 4th and 5th place finishes are hard to ignore, but another person scoring in backstroke would be helpful. His personal best in the back was good enough to make the top of the B final last year, so just a little improvement could easily push him into the A. His improved back will also help his IMs, and he did finish 11th in the 200 IM last year, and the 400 IM shouldn't be off the table either, in fact he could end up being a very strong 400 IMer.

Harrison McNeil (So.)
The 3rd of the 30+ point freshman from '20/'21. Harrison is very similar to Hunter, in fact, they often jockey for position with each other. McNeil finished 11th in the 50 free, but 6th in the 100 free, and 8th in the 200 free. He's another one that could step into Michael Bemis' role as the primary freestyler on all the relays. The interesting thing about Harrison is his potential. As fast as he is, he really hasn't had much in the way of training - his year round practices were only a few day a week, rather than 6 days and sometimes 2x a day, and because of this his form can get sloppy at times. If he can clean up his stroke, his times could really drop.

Breck Richards (Fr.)
The 6th member of the freshman class. Based on the times I've seen, he appears to be a sprint free/back swimmer. His sprint free's put him fractions of a second behind Hunter and Harrison - but also likely in the B final. His 100 back has a chance to slip in the A final. While his 200 Free and 200 Back are in scoring range, I expect he'll swim the 50/100 Free and 100 Back.

Emilio Rico (Fr.)
7th freshman and 2nd swimmer from North Gwinnett High School. Emilio like his former high school teammate Andrew above, is a breaststroker. However, Emilio is a more well rounded swimmer, and in fact, he'll have a chance to be the top freshman on the team. He's capable of making A finals in both breast events, both IMs, and both distance freestyles. I expect he'll swim the 2 breast events and the 400 IM, but that could be flipped. He could go both IMs and only 1 breast to free up spots in the standings on the breaststroke. However, I do expect him to swim the 200 breast no matter what. His personal best time is good enough to medal in that event.

Paxton Smathers (Jr.)
Paxton has been a B finalist point earner for the team in his 2 previous years. The interesting thing is how different his events have been between the 2 championships he's competed in. In his freshman year Paxton earned 6 points with 16th place finish in the 500 Free, 13th place finish in the 200 Free, and a 16th place finish in the 200 Back. Last year though, he earned 9 points swimming a totally different schedule. He finished 16th in the 50 Free, 11th in the 200 Free, and 15th in the 100 Free. I'm not sure what he'll swim this year, but my guess would be the sprint frees. I'm also not sure how many points to expect him to earn at conference. With Sewanee returning and with just Berry's team being deeper - those B finals spots will be harder to earn. However, another year of focusing on sprints might be all it takes for him to improve and get to the top of the B finals. Morever, he's very likely to be a regular on the B free relays.

Tyler Stephenson (Sr.)
Tyler returned to the team last year after missing the previous season and he competed with Ryan MacKinnon for the top breaststroke position. He'll be one of the pack of breaststrokers the team rolls out this year. Tyler's 100 breast time is 59.76 seconds, which puts him right in the middle of the pack, and his time was good enough to finish 4th at conference (gives you an idea of the depth Berry has in Breast with him being middle of the pack on the team and 4th in conference). His 200 breast time last year was 7th best. I expect he'll continue to do both those events, I'm not sure what his 3rd event will be, or even if he'll swim a 3rd event. His personal best times suggest he could potentially sneak backend points in the 50 or 200 Free, or the 200 or 400 IM. However, last year he never swam a 3rd event. Seems odd to not take the shot, but I'm guessing the lack of a 3rd event was Tyler's choice not the coach's.

Sam Tate (Fr.)
8th member of the freshman class, and probably the best of the group. Tate is the fastest of the group of breaststrokers with a 100 time of 58.38, and his personal best in the 100 back is also the fastest on the team at a 52 high. It's going to be hard to determine what Tate will swim as he has a chance to make A finals in both breasts, the 100 back, and both IMs. He's also right on the cusp of being an A finalist in the 100 fly. To emphasize how strong of an all around swimmer Tate is - his personal best in the 200 IM from last year's season - would have won the 200 IM at conference. It will be fascinating to see what he ultimately ends up swimming. It could be an odd line up like the 100 breast, 100 back and 200 IM.

Diego Torres (So.)
Diego, as I mentioned last year, really hasn't been a year round swimmer. So last year, as broken up as the training was due to Covid restrictions, it was the first "real" swim training he's ever received, and he improved a bunch. Enough that he backended a point in the 200 Free. However, with a much deeper team, even with another year of significant improvement, I expect Diego to be one of the swimmers not on the 18 man conference roster.

Ross Valdez (Jr.)
Ross was last year's freshman of the year - I know seems odd with him being a junior now, but he reclassified at the end of the year. Ross managed to take 44 points at conference last year, and he did it after just getting over Covid and out of the recovery protocol 3 days before the meet. It's a shame, because a fully healthy Ross likely competes for top freshman in the conference. How good is Ross? His personal best gives him a chance to compete for conference championships in the 200/500/1650 Free, 100/200 Fly, and 400 IM. I believe Ross is leaning towards swimming the 500 free, and the 2 flys, but we'll see where that ends up.

Mason Weaver (Jr.)
In the '19/'20 season Mason managed to backend 2 points and coming into last year I mentioned I didn't see any way he'd be able to duplicate that in '20/'21. Well I was wrong, he managed to bring home 3 points last year by finishing 14th in the 200 breast. Unfortunately, this year I don't expect Mason to be on the 18 man roster for conference. Like last year, I don't see anyway he's able to bring in any points - especially with the team adding 4 or 5 breaststrokers that are better than he is, that alone would push him out of any shot at a top 16 finish.

Ethan Whiting (Fr.)
Ethan is the 3rd swimmer from North Gwinnett added this year and the final freshman on the roster. He's also another extremely strong swimmer. Ethan is very similar to Bear, he's capable of reaching the A final in the 200/500/1650 Free, 200 Fly, 200/400 IM. His best event is the 1650 where he's capable of medaling. Unfortunately, with the 2 Birmingham Southern swimmers likely finishing 1/2 in the 1650, Ethan and Bear will likely be fighting for 3rd. I suspect, Bear and Ethan will both swim the distance Frees, and then 1 will swim the 200 Fly and 1 will swim the 400 IM (assuming the schedule breaks down so those 2 events are on different days from the distance frees).

Bear Breeze (So.)
Bear managed 42 points last year and a 3rd place finish in the 1000 (they shortened the 1650 last year because of the limited training period due to Covid). Bear will have his work cut out for him this year as the addition of Ethan is going to add a quality swimmer in the distance events on his own team, and at least 1 of the other teams in conference also added a good swimmer in those events. However, for the first time in years, Bear was able to approach his personal bests despite the less than ideal training during the season. If he can stay healthy, he could be looking at posting some personal best times, which would be exciting after so many years of struggling. As I mentioned above in Ethan's write up, I expect Bear to swim the 500/1650 and either the 200 fly or the 400 IM, with Ethan swimming the one Bear doesn't.

Chris Retana (Fr.)
The team finally updated the roster on the website and another swimmer I wasn't aware of was listed. Chris doesn't really move the needle, his strokes are not in guaranteed scoring range. His best option for scoring is probably in breaststroke, which means he'll be competing with Hunter Erb and Mason Weaver for a spot in the top 18, and of course all 3 could miss out.

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