Steve Puterski / LVN Photo
Coming off two school records, Fallon’s Sam Martin aims to lead the Fallon swim program into the history books.
The Greenwave look to capture their first individual state title in 14 years as the club swims at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Division I-A state meet at the Carson Aquatic Center.
The atmosphere around the Fallon program, though, is one of excitement and nerves.
Powerhouse Boulder City has many of the fastest swimmers and relays, which will present the Wave swimmers with their biggest challenge of the season.
“I got a couple kids looking to move up and place,” Fallon coach Ken Grimes said. “The attitude is to go out and do real well. We got a shot at scoring some points. We want to have fun since this is our first chance at state in awhile. Boulder City has a long tradition … and we are looking forward to competing with them.”
Leading the way for Fallon are five seniors — Keith Grimes, Tina Anderson, Sam Martin, Lyndsey Thurston and Alex Lynch. The five entered the program together as freshman and now recognize the opportunity to leave their mark.
“It’s been 14 years since someone from the high school program ahs made it to state,” Anderson said. “It’s really exciting, especially for all of us seniors.”
Martin won the regional title in the 200-yard individual medley and is seeded second in the state meet.
She will battle Boulder City’s Rebecca Lelles, whose regional time was nearly 6 seconds faster than Martin. Martin is also ranked No. 4 in the 100 butterfly.
Lynch, meanwhile, is ranked No. 5 in the 100 freestyle after she won the regional, while Thurston is seeded seventh and seventh in the 50 free.
As for the relays, the 200 free team of Thurston, Tina Anderson, Martin, Lynch — is ranked No. 3 and the 200 medley is No. 4 — Thurston, Tina Anderson, Martin, Lynch
“I think most of our swimmers will do really good,” Anderson said. “We’ve just been working on our strokes and technique.”
Keith Grimes, who recorded the third fastest overall 50 free time at last week’s regional, is seeded fifth. Boulder City owns the top three seeds as Jeremy Estes’ seed time rests at 21.08, about 2 seconds faster than Grimes’ best time.
Grimes has another difficult challenge in the 100 free. He is seeded sixth and is about 5 seconds off the pace from Boulder City’s Joseph Gebhart.
“I think some of us can get into the top four,” Keith Grimes said. “The south teams are pretty fast. They are down in the 21s and 22s (in the 50 free), so it’s going to be intense.”
Kyle Grimes is seeded sixth in the 100 backstroke, but like his brother, has a difficult task ahead. His time is more than 13 seconds behind Gebhart.
Although the Wave are in for a battle, Anderson and Keith Grimes welcome the competition. Battling low numbers for years, the two seniors said the chance to display their skills, dedication, hard work and fun should pay off in the future.
“It’s not just work, work, work,” Keith Grimes said. “We got to show them (future swimmers) there is fun in swimming and that they should come out.”