Niceville swim’s historic FHSAA 3A state meet

Elisabeth Breck began swimming when she was 5 years outdated, a pure from the beginning in her beginnings with the Goldsboro YMCA Sharks.

Nick Venture was a late bloomer, his swimming profession beginning three years and 9 months in the past as an eighth-grader at Ruckel.

Split the distinction and that was the beginning of the swimming journeys for Tripp Gallemore and Logan Michel, who started across the age of 8 or 9 with the native Coast Aquatics membership.

William Pugh, in the meantime, began at age 4 at Woodlands Cabana Club in California earlier than swimming in Germany as a navy child earlier than his transfer right here.

Together, the Niceville quintet has mixed for seven college and Okaloosa County swimming information, and collectively they mixed to win 4 state titles in the perfect state exhibiting the realm’s swim scene has ever seen.

Venture received gold at state within the 50-yard freestyle in a 20:44 end and teammed with Gallemore, Pugh and Michel to win gold in each the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:23.58) and 400-yard freestyle relays (3:05.27), propelling the Eagles to a runner-up end behind co-state champs Nease and Jesuit.

Breck, in the meantime, received the 100-yard backstroke in 55.50 seconds, the spotlight of a day the place she completed fourth within the 200-yard IM (2:06.60) and teamed up with Emma Michel, Charlene Williams and Stella Landreneau to complete fifth within the 200-yard medley relay (1:52.06) and partnered with Reanna Panarisi, Lila Barton and Landreneau to complete sixth within the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:39.61).

This is the story of how the quintet collectively got here to ship Niceville an Okaloosa-record 4 state titles.

‘These had been a yr within the making’

Last yr at state, the identical Niceville 200 relay completed third in 1:27.32. That did not sit nicely.

“We didn’t think we’d done our best, so right then and there the four of us decided we’d come back and win it all this year,” stated Pugh, the lone junior among the many senior-laden group. “We were like, ‘We’re going to do it.’ It was a concerted effort by all four of us for literally a whole year, and by the end of it, when that day came there was nothing going to stop us from getting that.’

“Will and I had simply walked off two fairly large accidents,” expanded Michel, who just got an appointment for United States Military Academy West Point. “Mine was a knee, Will had some again points. We competed at state by them, so we determined we will come again and see what we are able to do wholesome.”

“When we positioned third final yr, we noticed how excited and the way glad the folks had been in first, we obtained a style for that feeling,” added Gallemore, who’ll swim next year at Florida Southern College. “We needed that, and we satisfied ourselves we would get there.”

“We had no seniors final yr,” expanded Venture, who is still deciding between Florida Southern and Indian River State College for his next stop. “We had everybody coming again. We had the proper relay setup.”

Accountability started with crack-of-dawn swims Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the first of three workouts on the day. Accountability was also driven home by veteran coach Kathy Ritacco, who provided daily affirmations.

“She’s at all times that coach that’s reaching for the subsequent large factor and desires the perfect from you,” said Pugh, who Ritacco calls her “son” and “pitbull.” “When you say you need to accomplish one thing, she’ll remind you each single day till you do it. Pretty a lot in the beginning of this highschool season is after we began speaking about successful each relays, and day by day we had been within the water she reminded us the truth that we needed that and we had been going to do this. Eventually that occurred. That was us manifesting that and her manifesting that for us.”

“I actually do owe all of it to educate Kathy,” Venture added. “I do know I began late and I felt like i have been behind, however coach Kathy by no means made me really feel that means. She informed me it’d all be value it.”

As their occasions shrunk by the season, their bond grew.

“We just about hang around each single day,” Gallemore said. “We began out as swim mates, however as time grew we bonded as bothers.”

And the trust strengthened both in the lanes and out.

“There’s been occasions the place we thought, are we gonna be as quick as we’re gonna have to be? Venture stated. “But there’s never been a moment where we thought one person was going to be the weak link. Even if we didn’t swim well one day, we’re so close that we can shrug it off.”

Come the postseason, the occasions continued to drop. At districts, the group swam 1:27 within the 200 and three:12.75 within the 400 to comb golds. At regionals, they received the 200 in 1:25.67 and the 400 in 3:08.95.

“They showed up really strong at regions and we were like, ‘We’re going to get this. We’re going to win both relay state titles,’ ” Ritacco stated.

Come the morning of state, figuring out full nicely there was a day of eight swims forward of them as every had certified in two different particular person occasions, they determined to breathe on their 50s within the prelims and save one thing within the tank for the finals. They nonetheless received the 200 and fell again right into a fourth seeding for the 400.

“We wanted more time to recover, so we paced that pefectly,” Venture stated. “Some schools, they swim alternates because they want to be fresh and swim the finals all out. That was the big challenge for us. Usually we never breathe for the 50, but we were like, ‘I guess we can breathe here and use some strategy.’ “

“We knew swimming eight races at full capacity was impossible, so we actually slowed down in both prelims and were surprised we were favored in the 200 relay,” Pugh stated. “We had times in mind we wanted to swim in the finals, so we made sure we had more energy to push for that.”

Come the finals, it was all fuel.

In the 200, Niceville led wire-to-wire. Venture gave the Eagles a .65 second lead within the first leg, Gallemore expanded it to .66, Pugh pushed the hole to .79 after which Michel polished the file swim off, the 1.23.58 end a county file and persevering with the theme of shaving off two seconds from every postseason spherical

“It’s rare to see four above-average swimmers together, to have no weak links,” Venture stated. “It was the perfect swim.”

Come the 400, the final swim of the evening, Niceville had loads left within the tank. Venture went neck and neck with the Fletcher swimmer he’d beforehand crushed to win the 50-yard freestyle gold, Michel owned his leg for a .35-seconds lead, Pugh expanded to a .91 hole and Gallemore dominated the fourth leg to place the Eagles forward 1.78 seconds for Venutra. Jesuit, the runner-up, by no means obtained inside two seconds as Niceville swam a County file 3:05.27 — greater than seven seconds sooner than districts and greater than three seconds sooner than regionals.

“At first, when I hit the wall i was in disbelief,” Gallemore stated. “Everyone was cheering, and I was like, ‘Let’s go.’ It was an emotional time. It felt great to know all our hard work paid off.”

Echoed Pugh: “At the end, to just cap it off with the exact times we wanted to and to win both relays with my best friends, that was a new swimming high for me. That was exactly what we had worked so hard for — waking up early for every morning practice, going to bed early, all those afternoon practices. It made it all worth it.”

More spectacular is that it got here on the eighth swim of the day for the quartet, every of whom shined of their indivudaul endeavors.

Gallemore, the county file holder within the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly, completed fourth and sixth, in these occasions. Michel completed sixth and eighth within the 100 and 50 free. Pugh completed seventh within the 100 free and fifteenth within the 100 backstroke.

But no shined like Venture, the first-ever Niceville swimmer ever to win three golds and a silver at a state meet. His 20.34 time within the 50 free prelims set a county file and paved the way in which for his gold medal, and the one impediment maintaining him from an ideal day was Chiles’ Owen Ekk, whose 44.74 first-place end within the 100 free narrowly bested Venture’s county file 45.12.

“It was just the culimination of everything I wanted,” Venture stated. “It was the perfect way for my career to end at Niceville.”

Bouncing again from state runner-up end

A yr after leaving the pool heartbroken within the 100 backstroke, a end that left her simply .19 seconds from gold, Breck had the swim of her life.

Leaving nothing to doubt, Breck sprinted to an insurmountable lead en path to a 55.50 end to win the 100 again. Not solely was it .46 seconds forward of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Carolyn Levy-Powell, it additionally shattered her private finest, set a county file and beat final yr’s state championship mark by .66 seconds.

“The first 75 (yards) I felt really, really good,” stated Breck, whose 4 state medals give her seven during the last two years. “The last 25 I was trying really, really hard but that was the only way to win it. I had to go out super fast because the girl was starting to catch up that last 20 yards.

“I used to be simply so relieved the strain was off of me. I’d been occupied with this for a yr, and to get that title for myself and coach meant all the pieces.”

The first indivdual state title, thoughts you, for any lady in Niceville swim historical past.

“She’s one of the crucial devoted athletes I’ve ever had in my teaching profession,” Ritacco said. “She’s swam by sickness, by accidents and she or he’s been so constant. She informed me final yr, ‘I’m so sorry I did not get you that state gold.’ That stayed with me. I knew she was going to seize it this yr, and once more she was affected person, she labored exhausting, she improved her underwaters, her physique place was higher and she or he was probably the most assured I’ve ever seen her within the backstroke.”

Now Breck, who was our 2024 Female Athlete of the Year, will join a new team at the University at Buffalo. She’ll swim the backstroke and likely the 200-yard IM, 200-yard free and a relay, all while focusing her studies on physical therapy and nutrition.

What won’t depart is her legacy at Niceville, where she, Gallemore, Michel, Pugh and Venture set a new standard.