Late Virginia rally sinks NRE Blue Devils pull out 48-46 win

by Tom Coombe
Up eight points midway through the meet, Northeast Range/Ely couldn’t hold on as visiting Virginia rallied and pulled out a 48-46 high school girls swimming victory on Tuesday.
The Blue Devils pulled ahead with a one-two finish in the next-to-last event and hung on despite a victory by the Nighthawks in the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay.
Virginia secured the narrow win with second and third-place points in the same event.
NRE had five firsts overall, with Lily Tedrick (50 freestyle), Kelly Thompson (100 freestyle) and Morgan McClelland (200 freestyle) claiming wins.
All three joined Anna Larson on a first-place 200 freestyle relay unit, and the trio teamed up with Cedar Ohlhauser to pick up a decisive win in the 400 freestyle relay.
Lauryn Devich had two firsts and was part of a winning relay for the Blue Devils.
The home meet, at Babbitt, closed out the reguar season for the Nighthawks. They are set to take part in the Section 7A meet at Aurora on Saturday.
Point-scorers for NRE in the Virginia meet were as follows:
• 200 freestyle relay -0 2. Esther Anderson, Lauren Olson, Ohlhauser, McKenna Coughlin, 2:21.94;
• 200 freestyle - 1. McClelland, 2:19.78; 3. Larson, 2:33.07;
• 200 individual medley - 1. Tedrick, 2:37.60; 2. Ohlhauser, 2:50.94;
• 50 freestyle - 2. Thompson, 29.29; 3. Coughlin, 30.36;
• 100 butterfly - 2. Tedrick, 1:14.81;
• 100 freestyle - 1. Thompson, 1:04.62; 2. Larson, 1:07.72;
• 500 freestyle - 3. McClelland, 6:28.72;
• 200 freestyle relay - 1. Tedrick, McClelland, Larson, Thompson, 1:57.31;
• 100 backstroke - 2. Anderson, 1:18.44;
• 100 breaststroke - 3. Olson, 1:39.44;
• 400 freestyle relay - Tedrick, McClelland, Ohlhauser, Thompson, 4:18.66;
JV results
Anderson (50 freestyle) and Olson (500 freestyle) had firsts but Virginia dominated Tuesday’s junior varsity meet by a 64-27 score.
Sabrah Hart recorded second-place finishes in two events - the 200 freestyle and 50 butterfly.