A Westlake Wow

Nguyen is lone county winner at All-Star meet

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photo by JAMES A. McCRAY III Westlake swimmer Andrew Nguyen walks away with two victories in Saturday’s Prince-Mont Swim League All-Star meet and as the only winner from the five Charles County swim teams. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

As the announcer said, ‘‘Take your mark,” he leaned back ever so slightly. And as the buzzer went off, Nguyen leapt into his domain, arms flailing and legs kicking as he sped through the water to his first All-Star meet victory of the day, taking the race in 33.63 seconds.

‘‘I feel happy, because I just got first place,” Nguyen said. ‘‘I wanted to get better times today. The season was good. I enjoyed the competiveness and how other people race. I can get better racing against other people.”

But the swimmer wasn’t done. Nguyen went on to also win the 25 backstroke in 19.07 seconds, his second victory of the day.

His race brought forth comments from the crowd such as, ‘‘Man, he is quick.” Nguyen also took second in the 25 butterfly event as well and was the only swimmer on the day from the five Charles County area teams –– Westlake, Smallwood, Indian Head, Bannister and Hawthorne –– that swam to a first-place finish at the All-Star meet.

‘‘Andrew impressed me every time he jumped into the water,” Westlake head coach Kelly Smith said. ‘‘He has a competitive spirit to him that is unmatched. He is a great competitor, a great swimmer, and is a lot of fun on our team. We love having him.”

As far as her team’s performance throughout the season, Smith added: ‘‘It was a great year. We feel very accomplished and proud of what [the swimmers] have done. It has been a good year.”

Various swimmers earned respective second-place spots in the meet featuring the best of the best.

Nguyen’s teammates Nathan Stephens (boys 15-18) and Christine Dunleavy (girls 15-18) each took home second in the 50 breast.

Smallwood’s Tyler Manion (boys 11-12) earned a second-place finish in the 50 breaststroke.

Hawthorne’s McKenzie Olup (girls 11-12) took in the 50 breast.

Indian Head’s Hannah Hagadorn (girls 9-10) finished second in the 25 breast.

‘‘It feels good to be here,” Manion said of the meet. ‘‘It was really fun; I did really well this year. I was happy if I beat my times and I pretty much did that every week.”

Now that the season is over, Manion has other plans.

‘‘I am going on vacation,” he added simply.

Hagadorn took second despite winning her heat in 21.26 seconds, behind the first-place time of 21.03 recorded in a heat prior to hers, thusly awarding her the second place spot.

‘‘I was so glad [I won my heat],” Hagadorn said. ‘‘It felt really good to be here. ... The season has been pretty good, and I am really glad I am swimming here.”