It will be no different Thursday when three area schools square off in The Pilot Cup swim meet scheduled for The O’Neal School pool at 5:30 p.m.
“You are going to see some really good times,” said Taylor Cooper, director of aquatics at O’Neal. “Town pride does a lot for getting the kids up. And, believe me, the kids are up for the meet.”
Lanes in the competition will be filled by swimmers from O’Neal, Pinecrest and Union Pines. North Moore does not field a team. Dubbed the County Meet in the past, the event is now part of The Pilot Cup, a year-long competition between the four teams with points awarded at the various competitions. At the end of the school year, the school with the most cumulative points gets to be the one-year owner of The Pilot Cup, a one of a kind trophy that is coming from pottery country in northern Moore.
“We’ve been doing this as long as I’ve been here,” Cooper said. “We’ve always drawn pretty well for this meet. The place will be packed. We’re happy to join with The Pilot in making this part of the Cup competition.”
O’Neal, the only school in the area with its own pool, has always cooperated with the other schools when it comes to swimming. Steve Dahl, O’Neal athletic director, points out that the other schools (Pinecrest and Union Pines) have always been offered the opportunity to use the Falcons’ facility.
“We’ve always had a good relationship with the other schools,” he said. “This sport, and golf, are two of the events (in The Pilot Cup) that we know we can be pretty competitive in.”
Owen Hebart, who is in his first year as the coach of the Falcons, and Cooper are excited about the Falcons’ chances against the other schools. Cooper, who is familiar with many of the swimmers from his other position as director of the Sandsharks, a local swim club, says he thinks his boys have to be considered the favorites to win the event, while the girls meet should really “be close.”
O’Neal is the defending state 2-A boys’ champs for the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association, while Pinecrest is coming off a sweep in the first Mid-Southeastern Conference championship meet ever held.
John Buchholz pulls double-duty, coaching both the Pinecrest and Union Pines teams. Pinecrest is a 4-A school, while Union Pines competes on the 3-A level. The Vikings Tri-County Conference meet is in High Point Saturday, so Thursday’s meet comes at a good time for Union Pines in getting ready for that competition.
Many of Buchholz’s Pinecrest swimmers set personal bests in Saturday’s conference meet at FirstHealth Fitness Center in Pinehurst, so they are heading into the county competition riding a wave of momentum.
The girls’ competition features a strong Pinecrest team that claimed its conference championship by taking first place in all 11 events held. Casey Hartsock, Loren Mercer and Amanda Daoust were all double winners at the fitness center. Union Pines is buoyed by the talents of Liz Tem and Emily Michael.
Cooper said the Falcon girls have two swimmers closing in on a chance to earn All-America status. Emily Rothbeind and Sage Erskine are the cornerstone of the Falcon girls’ team.
On the boys’ side of the event, the Falcons will look to Greg Doughty, a sophomore, and David Kelly to provide the heart for the Falcons. But they are not alone, Cooper said. He says the team is pretty solid down the line and is made up mostly of sophomores and juniors, so he thinks the Falcons will remain competitive on a state level for several years.
But first they have to get past a Patriot boys’ team that has a few good swimmers of its own. Several Patriots pulled double wins in the conference meet with Robert DeBernard taking firsts in the speed events (50 and 100 freestyle), while Clayton Fritts showed his versatility with wins in the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly. Christian McKenzie also claimed two individual championships in the conference meet.
There have been two other competitions held in The Pilot Cup’s first year of existence. Pinecrest took first place in the volleyball tournament held this fall. The highlight of The Cup has been the basketball tournament, the first time that anyone can recall all four local schools competing against each other in one place in a tournament setting.
Pinecrest took the championship for the boys, while Union Pines claimed the girls’ portion of the tourney.
A whole plethora of sports are slated between the schools during the upcoming spring sports season.
But before spring, there is a bit of swimming business to take care of over at O’Neal this Thursday. As Cooper said, there is something about town pride that brings out the best in a competitor.
