The Woodward-Whitbeck reign is over

By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@Oklahoman.com

Other observations from the pool this weekend: The monopoly is over. No, not the Sam one, but the Woodward-Whitbeck domination. Yeah, Lizzy Whitbeck will still be there but with Sam and Katie moving on, who’s going to take that mantle as the top swimmers with Lizzy? The Whitbecks or Woodward won six of the eight individual girls events while Sam paced two Edmond Memorial relay wins.

Jenks coach John Turner understated his team…big time. When talking to the coach about his team this week, he wasn’t very forthcoming about the stars his boys team had. He said he had a great team, but he didn’t say anything about Frank Radaelli, Andrew Kurtz and David Miller. The Trojans were dominant.

But with 16 seniors gone for Jenks, Stillwater is going to make a charge next year. Alex Barto will be my preseason pick for best boys swimmer.

Overall, I’m not too ashamed of my predictions for the teams and top swimmers. For boys teams, Edmond Memorial exceeded my expectations while Tulsa Union didn’t have its best days.

On the girls side, I had teams 3-6 (Union, Stillwater, McGuinness and Moore) dead-on and was three points away from having 1-6. Jenks pulled it out when it mattered most. In a perfect world, it would have been fun to see Sam and Whitley Taylor decide each team’s fate, but that’s where the planning comes in. Woodward was done while Turner still had his anchor ready to roll.

Speaking of Taylor, Whitley and the Whitbecks did as expected. And I’m giving Riedmann a pass as she placed second in two events. One where Sam set a record and the other where Katie was tops.