JV coach leads Bulldog varsity girls to swim win
The due date for Ramona High School varsity girls swim coach Stacey Dusseault’s second child isn’t until June 1, but Dusseault experienced contractions last week and bed rest kept her from being at the pool April 17, when the Bulldogs hosted Canyon Crest.
Junior varsity coach Jolyn Yanez coached the varsity team against the Ravens, leading the varsity to a 122-49 victory as well as securing a 99-19 victory for the junior varsity girls.
“They did really well and they swam fast,” Yanez said. “It made my job easy this week.”
The swimmers Yanez sends to the varsity spend less time on the junior varsity squad than the coach, who has been with the high school program for six years. Yanez and Dusseault also coach together with the Heartland Swim Club.
“I’ve worked with Stacey for years,” Yanez said.
“She knows me; she knows my coaching philosophy,” Dusseault said. “She’s very well-prepared for this.”
Yanez also knows that Dusseault delivered her first child, who is now two, prior to the due date.
“We kind of anticipated this might happen,” Dusseault said.
“It should be pretty seamless for Jolyn to step in,” Dusseault said. “It shouldn’t impact the team at all.”
Dusseault and Yanez were more concerned about a lack of competitiveness by Ravens swimmers for the first-place positions, so as was the case in Ramona’s previous Valley League meet April 3 against Orange Glen the Bulldogs were split into two squads under captains Lauren Gantzer and Autie Hillis.
“They kind of raced against one another,” Yanez said.
Even splitting up the relay teams didn’t prevent Ramona from sweeping the three varsity relays. Jessica Patterson, Brice Maruna, Katherine Abbott, and Ellie Carrano won the 200-yard medley relay in 2:07.99. Madi Lanz, Kaylee Nelson, Gantzer and Breann Stevens took first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:47.89. Abbott, Patterson, Taylor Shinnick, and Hillis took 4:10.12 to win the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The Ravens took first place in the 100-yard breaststroke, but Ramona won seven of the eight individual events. Carrano added two individual wins to her relay victory, swimming the 100-yard freestyle event in 57.76 seconds and the 200-yard freestyle race in 2:09.39. Gantzer required 26.09 seconds to win the 50-yard freestyle, Stevens’ time of 5:25.91 topped the meet in the 500-yard freestyle, Abbott had the fastest 200-yard individual medley time at 2:23.97, Lanz made the final touch of the 100-yard butterfly 1:02.64 after the starting gun, and Hillis had a winning time of 1:07.01 in the 100-yard backstroke.
While the varsity won ten of the eleven events, the junior varsity team won ten of ten events. The 400-yard freestyle relay was not contested at the junior varsity level.
Ramona travels to San Marcos tomorrow for a Valley League dual meet and will participate in the Ironman Relays at Palomar College on Saturday.