A dual-meet loss to Oakton on Jan. 9 may have provided the only wake-up call needed for the Robinson boys swim and dive team, which has won the past six Virginia AAA state championships.
In swimming, like many sports, regular-season activities differ greatly from those of the postseason and, according to head coach Tom Koucheravy, the Rams may have taken the Cougars a bit too lightly.
At the Feb. 7 Concorde District championships at Cub Run RECenter, Robinson woke up. The Rams swept the meet, with the boys team earning a 402-360 win over Fairfax and the girls lapping the Cougars, 434-324.5.
“At the beginning of the year, I said to them that this isn’t a team where we have a big buffer of fast swimmers to help us out,” said first-year coach Tom Koucheravy, who graduated from Robinson and had a prolific swimming career at nearby George Mason University.
“It has to come from everybody,” Koucheravy said. “When we lost [to Oakton], it just became very apparent to them and they got a lot more serious.”
The boys team’s title was its seventh consecutive and the girls won for the first time since the early 1990s. Both teams will advance to this weekend’s Northern Region championships, with the finals scheduled for Saturday night at Oak Marr RECenter.
<b>ROBINSON WON</b> two important relays — the 200- and 400-yard freestyle event. The 200-free relay team, which consisted of Robbie Munch, Daniel McGuire, Joe Zanellato and Geoff Bobsin, finished with a time of 1:27.70.
The 400-free relay team (Munch, Matt Osiecki, Zanellato and Bobsin) touched the wall with a time of 3:12.52. Munch also won the 50 free (21.79) and Cory Bowersox took first in the 1-meter diving event with a score of 464.40.
Robinson’s girls team benefited from Amanda Kendall’s record-setting performance. Kendall set district records and posted first-place finishes in both the 50 free (23.67) and 100 butterfly (56.81).
Koucheravy acknowledged the obvious differences between a relatively low-key dual meet and the deafening atmosphere that exists at district, regional and state meets.
“Championship meets are always completely different than dual meets,” Koucheravy said. “There’s always a completely different atmosphere to it with the idea that this is it or this can continue, and it puts you in a completely different state of mind.
“I feel like we’re coming into [regionals] optimistic and with the idea that this is ours, or, if we don’t focus, this is going to be someone else’s.”