MUS Sports News

Aquatic Owls Take Second At County

The Aquatic Owls, the school’s varsity swim team, entered its postseason this past weekend as it competed in the Shelby County Championship Meet, held this past Saturday at the University of Memphis.

The Owls swam very well, winning several races and claiming second as a team, its seventh-straight runner-up finish in this meet.

One of the wins came from sophomore Alexander Kaltenborn in the 500-free. 

Going into the race, Kaltenborn was seeded second, a full seven seconds behind CBHS’s Chris McCall.  The first 100 yards Kaltenborn was even with the CBHS swimmer; the next 300 yards he started inching ahead; and the last 100 he took control of the race as he placed first, swimming a personal best time of 4:53.38, almost a second and a half faster than the CBHS swimmer.  This occasion was also the second time this year Kaltenborn reset the MUS record in the 500 free.

The Owls claimed another win in the event right before the 500 free, the 100-yard freestyle.

Chris Kennedy outswam a good CBHS swimmer by a second and a half in the race as he outkicked his competitor in the last twenty-five yards to win and reset the school record once again. 

Kennedy now owns MUS records in the 100 free, 200 free, 50 breast, 100 IM, 200 IM, 50 fly, and 100 fly.  He also is a member of two school-record relay teams, joining with Johnny Dillon, Peterson Wellford, and Forrest Wortham on the 200-medley team and Kaltenborn, Dillon, and Tucker Witte on the 400-free team.  The 400-free relay team has taken nine seconds off the record time, set last year at state. 

Kennedy and Kaltenborn also had second-place finishes, and all three MUS relays placed second.  Wellford placed third in the 50 back, and Dillon took third in the 100 back.  Most importantly though, the MUS team had fourteen personal best times, one of which was a twenty-four-second improvement by Richard Twardzik in the 500 free. 

Though the Owls fell to CBHS for the overall title, every MUS swimmer and relay team that entered placed and scored points.  The Owls posted wins over Germantown, Briarcrest, Lausanne, ECS, Bartlett, Bolton, Collierville, Houston, St. Benedict, MHEA, White Station, and St. George’s. 

The team is led this year by seniors Kennedy, Jack Montgomery, Kenny Krzyzkowski, Owen Mercer, Mark Vives, and Luke Wynn.  They lead a team of twenty-seven, consisting of the six seniors, six juniors, six sophomores, and nine freshmen.  The entire team competed in the County Meet as they finished with 543 points.

The last meet of the year will be the State High School Championships, to be held in two weeks in Nashville.  With no divisions between public and private schools in Tennessee, the two-day state meet will consist of over one-hundred teams and over one-thousand athletes. 

Nine MUS swimmers obtained qualifying times to compete at this meet and will be swimming in individual events: Kennedy, the lone senior; juniors Dillon, Robert Vestal, Witte, and Wortham; sophomores Kaltenborn, John Straton, and Wellford; and freshman Tony Bui.  The Owls will also participate in at least three relays.

Swimmers Place Third In Nashville

The MUS varsity swimming team traveled to Nashville Saturday, January 12, to compete in the Excel Invitational.

Competing against twenty-seven other schools, most from Middle Tennessee, the Aquatic Owls placed third in the men’s division with a strong team showing. 

Chris Kennedy placed third in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 fly, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Alexander Kaltenborn, Johnny Dillon, Tucker Witte, and Kennedy placed fourth.  Other scorers included Robert Vestal, Forrest Wortham, Peterson Wellford, and Tony Bui. 

Last Thursday, January 10, the varsity team won a local meet scoring 118 points, 41 points more than the second-place team.  This meet includes wins over Lausanne, St. Benedict, Briarcrest, Bartlett, and MHEA. 

The last regular meet of the season before the County Championships for the varsity Team will be Thursday, January 17, at St. George’s High School.  The first race starts at 5:00 p.m.

Aquatic Owls Set Four New School Records

This season’s MUS varsity swim team, known as the Aquatic Owls, was made up of 31 swimmers, including 12 seniors, led by captains Bill Bell, John Goldsmith, and Erim Sarinoglu. Under Coach Laurie Clark’s leadership, they produced another great year of swimming at MUS.

The Owls finished the year at 71-20. They started off the season at one of the most competitive meets in the region, the McCallie Invitational. Though they were not one of the elite teams at this competition, it was a good meet to gain experience against some of the best teams in the country. 

After having dominated several local meets, MUS next competed in the Excel Invitational in Nashville in late January. Despite the good competition, the team did very well, finishing 4th out of 31 teams.   

In meets in Shelby County, the Owls had easy wins over teams like St. George’s, Briarcrest, Lausanne, ECS, Houston, White Station, and Germantown. These local events prepared MUS for the Shelby County High School Championships. The team performed very well at this meet and ultimately claimed second. 

With their runner-up finish at the County Championships, the Owls readied for the Tennessee State Championships in Nashville. With no divisions between public and private schools, the meet is extremely competitive and includes about 110 schools and about 1200 athletes. This year ten MUS swimmers qualified in individual events. Several Owls qualified in several events, but the meet has limitations to the number of individual events swimmers may enter. The ten that qualified included seniors Bell (100 free and relays), Goldsmith (50 free and relays), Neale Hicks (100 free and relays), and Sarinoglu (50 free and relays); sophomores Johnny Dillon (100 back and 100 fly), Jon Mitchell (100 breast and 100 free), Tucker Witte (500 free), and Forrest Wortham (50 free and 100 breast); and freshmen Alexander Kaltenborn (200 IM and 500 free) and Peterson Wellford (100 back and 100 breast).

At the state meet, the Owls set four new school records. Kaltenborn set new marks in the both of his races. Mitchell set a school record in the 100 breast, and the 400 Free relay team – composed of Sarinoglu, Bell, Hicks, and Goldsmith – established a new mark as well.

Congratulations to Coach Clark and all of the Aquatic Owls on an outstanding season.

Aquatic Owls Represent Well In Nashville

The MUS Aquatic Owls finished off their 2005-06 season with a great performance at the State Meet, held in Nashville February 24-25, posting three new MUS records and eleven personal best times.

Starting off the meet Friday morning, the 200-yard medley relay team, made up of seniors Dex Witte and Daniel Harriman and freshmen Johnny Dillon and Jon Mitchell, broke last-year's MUS record by almost a second, posting a new time of 1:47.95. Then Saturday morning Witte shattered the five-year-old 500-yard freestyle record by almost five seconds, setting the new school record with a time of 5:24.46.  Also Saturday morning, Mitchell reset the 100-yard breaststroke record for a second time this year, recording a new time of 1:07.54.

Several other MUS swimmers posted personal best times. 

Senior Collier Calandruccio in the 100-yard breaststroke, juniors Bill Bell in the 200-yard freestyle, John Goldsmith in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle, Erim Sarinoglu in the 50-yard freestyle, and freshman Tucker Witte in the 200-yard freestyle all posted best times.

This excellent performance culminated the season for the Owls, which posted a 54-16 season record and a second-place finish at the Shelby County High School Championships. 

This year's team, the largest ever at the school and the largest in the county with thirty-four swimmers, will definitely miss its six departing seniors. 

Besides Calandruccio, Harriman, and Witte, the team has to replace Hayden Pendergrass in the Individual Medley, Keith Parsons in the butterfly and short free, and Eric Reid in the backstroke.

Coach Laurie Clark is extremely pleased with this year's season. 

"MUS is one of only a handful of teams in the entire state that is truly a team.  While most schools rely on their U.S.S. competitive swimmers to school all their points, this team relies on team work to win."

Congratulations to Coach Clark and the swimmers for their fine season.

Swimmers Claim Second At County

Last Saturday, February 11, the Aquatic Owls participated in the Shelby County Swimming Championships at the University of Memphis and performed very well as they claimed second against some of the best competition in the county. These championships included teams from both public and private schools as swimming is not a TSSAA-recognized sport. 

The Owls scored 566 total points, finishing behind only CBHS (690).  MUS defeated fine squads such as Houston (314), Collierville (293), ECS (269), Germantown (247), White Station (244), Bolton (163), St Benedict (127), St. George's (104), Bartlett (48), Briarcrest (39), and Lausanne (7).

The 35 MUS swimmers really showed what teamwork is all about. 

With no first-place finishers and only one second-place relay team, the Owls were deep in all events, entering the maximum number of qualifiers in all individual races. In addition, all but one of the Owl swimmers scored points, an amazing feat.

Individual scorers included seniors Collier Calandruccio, Daniel Harriman, Keith Parsons, Hayden Pendergrass, Eric Reid, and Dex Witte; juniors Bill Bell, Ashton Fisher, John Goldsmith, Scott Guinn, Drew Haight, Drew Hammond, Neale Hicks, Tyler Johnson, Ross Kerwin, Andy Kim, Thomas McIntire, Alex Olinger, John Reinhardt, Erim Sarinoglu, and Byron Tyler; sophomores Jack Montgomery and Luke Wynn; and freshmen Johnny Dillon, Jon Mitchell, John Rutledge, Forrest Wortham, and Tucker Witte.

The MUS Team now heads to Nashville on Thursday, February 23, for the Tennessee State Swimming Championships. With nine swimmers qualified in 15 events and at least three relays, the Aquatic Owls are looking for places in finals.

Aquatic Owls Look To Postseason

In the last regular-season meet of the year, the varsity swim team fought a close battle with the Germantown team and finished in a tie at 100 points. Also swimming were Collierville (37 points), Bolton (20 points), and St. Benedict (19 points).

The Aquatic Owls showed what teamwork is all about with the maximum three swimmers per school scoring in every event.  Seniors Dex Witte in the 100-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle and Daniel Harriman in the 50-yard butterfly and 100-yard individual medley placed second in both their events. The 400-yard freestyle team of Harriman, juniors Erim Sarinoglu and John Goldsmith, and freshman Johnny Dillon placed 2nd, also.

Third-place finishes were recorded by Dillon in the 100-yard backstroke, Goldsmith in the 100-yard freestyle, freshmen Tucker Witte in the 500-yard freestyle, and Jon Mitchell in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Other scoring Owls included senior Collier Calandruccio, juniors Bill Bell, Ashton Fisher, Andy Kim, and Scott Guinn, and freshmen John Rutledge and Forrest Wortham.

Next Saturday, February 11, the swimmers compete in the Shelby County Championships at the University of Memphis.  All 13 men's teams in the Memphis area compete.  The Owls will look to improve on last-season's runner-up finish at the county meet.

Swimmers Continue To Improve

The Aquatic Owls posted wins over White Station, Briarcrest, and St. Benedict but fell short to CBHS at their regular-season meet last Saturday at the Bartlett Rec Center.  This meet brings the Owls' season record to 41-15.

Starting the meet, senior Dex Witte, freshman Tucker Witte, and junior Bill Bell placed second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the 500-freestyle event. In addition, the MUS team placed the maximum three swimmers in the top eight in every event.

Other scorers included seniors Daniel Harriman and Collier Calandruccio, juniors Erim Sarinoglu, John Goldsmith, Andy Kim, Scott Guinn, Thomas McIntire, and Ashton Fisher, and freshmen Johnny Dillon and Jon Mitchell. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Witte, Goldsmith, Dillon, and Harriman placed second.

As the County Championships approach, MUS looks to the final regular-season meet on Saturday, February 4, at the Bartlett Recreation Center. The Owls have amassed 164 county qualifying times among the 37 swimmers. In addition, eight swimmers have acquired eighteen state cuts.

Aquatic Owls Redeem Themselves

Redeeming themselves after last weekend's loss to Germantown, the Aquatic Owls repaid the Red Devils with a 116-97 victory at a regular-season meet on January 12 at St. George's High School. In addition to beating Germantown, MUS also defeated Collierville (53), Briarcrest (27), Bartlett (16), and St. George's (14) at this meet.

Starting out the meet, the 200-yard medley relay team of freshmen Johnny Dillon and Jon Mitchell and seniors Daniel Harriman and Dex Witte was narrowly beaten out with a time 1:50.45, losing by only .55 seconds to the first-place Germantown team. And finishing the meet was the 200-yard freestyle relay team, consisting of juniors John Goldsmith and Bill Bell, Witte, and Harriman, who tied the Germantown team with a time of 1:37.26 in an amazingly close race.

Individually, the Owls scored the maximum three places in each event with Witte leading with a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Second-place finishes were presented to Harriman in the 50-yard free and Mitchell in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke. Also finishing in the top eight in other events were Harriman, Witte, senior Collier Callandruccio, Goldsmith, juniors Scott Guinn, Tyler Johnson, Andy Kim, and Thomas McIntire, Dillon, and freshmen Tucker Witte and Forrest Wortham.

Hoping to build on their outstanding record of 39-14, the Swim Team has two more regular-season meets before the County Championships, to be held Saturday, February 11, and the State Meet on February 24-25 in Nashville. 

The Owls' next meet is Saturday, January 21, at 3:15 p.m. at the Bartlett Recreation Center against White Station, St. Benedict, Briarcrest, and rival Christian Brothers.

Swimmers Take Third At Germantown

The MUS swim team added to their impressive record when they competed over the weekend in the Germantown Invitational, a prestigious county event, placing third out of twelve teams.

The Owls earned 84 total points, finishing behind rival CBHS (310 points) and Germantown High School (128 points). This meet was the second invitational on the Owls’ schedule, which now has entered its second half.

Highlights included some strong performances from the relay teams.  In the 400 freestyle relay, the Owls placed three teams in the top four, including a second-place finish from the team of John Goldsmith, Dex Witte, Daniel Harriman, and Erim Sarinoglu.  Also, in the 200 freestyle relay, the team of Keith Parsons, Sarinoglu, Bill Bell, and Witte claimed third place.  And freshman Jon Mitchell got state cuts in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley.

Last year, after the Owls had finished second in the Germantown Invitational, they cruised to the County Championships by winning two consecutive events. This season, MUS has three events until the County Championships. Coach Laurie Clark’s squad will have several more chances at these upcoming meets to size up their major opponents, CBHS and Germantown. 

The first of these three remaining meets in January 12th at St. George’s.

Aquatic Owls Win Event

The MUS Aquatic Owls continued their strong early-season performances as they easily won a three-team meet last Saturday, December 10, that included St. Benedict and St. George's. The Owls scored 128 points, outdistancing the Eagles by 42 points and the Gryphons by 87 as Coach Laurie Clark's squad won both of the relay events and five of the six individual events.

The 200-yard medley relay team of seniors Eric Reid, Philippe Blais, and Daniel Harriman, and junior John Goldsmith placed ten seconds in front of the St. Benedict's team and twenty-five seconds in front of the St. George's team.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of seniors Collier Calandruccio, Keith Parsons, Zak Kisber, and Dex Witte were again ten seconds ahead of the second-place team.  In addition, all four of the MUS exhibition relay teams had faster swim times than the second-place team.

Scoring individual firsts were Witte in the 200 free, junior Thomas McIntire in the 50 back, junior Scott Guinn in the 200 IM, Goldsmith in the 50 free, and junior John Reinhardt in the 50 breast.

Besides the strength of the first places, the team showed the depth with a number of swimmers scoring points.

Additional points were scored by junior Bill Bell (third in the 200 free), junior Drew Haight (fourth in the 200 free), junior Neale Hicks (fourth in the 50 back), Parsons (second in the 50 free), Kisber (secnd in the 50 breast), junior Byron Tyler (third in the 50 breast), junior Tyler Johnson (third in the 100 fly), and junior Ashton Fisher (fourth in the 100 fly).

The Aquatic Owls next will attend the Germantown Invitational at the Germantown Centre on Saturday, January 7th, at 8:15 a.m.