Five William Byrd seniors were honored Tuesday when the Terriers
hosted Roanoke County rival Hidden Valley in a swim meet at the Gator Center.
Connor Wheeler, Josie Taylor, Jay Rozenboom, Blake Richardson and Evan
Copening were all recognized at the meet.
Wheeler was escorted by his mom, Julie Wheeler. He has been Byrd’s
team for two years and his best events are the 50 and 100 free. Connor plans to go
into the military next year.
Taylor, a team captain, was escorted by her dad, Caleb Taylor, and her
mom, Julie Blevins. She has been on the team for three years and her best events
are the 50 free and the 100 free. Josie plans to go to Virginia Tech to study
business.
Rozenboom was escorted by his mom, Amber, his dad, Johnathan, his
sister, Jenna, and his brother Justyn. Jay has been on the team for four years and his best events are the 50 free and the 200IM. He plans to attend Virginia Western next year and take HVAC and Electrical classes.
Richardson was escorted by his mom, Jennifer, and his dad Kevin. He’s
been on the team for the past four years and his best events are the 100 fly and the
50 free. Blake plans to study Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech next year!
Copening, also a team captain, was escorted by his mom, Jennifer, and his
dad Brian. Evan has been on the team for the last five years. His best events are
the 200 IM and the 100 Breaststroke. Evan plans to major in multi-media
journalism at Virginia Tech next year.
“These are 5 fantastic kids that we are going to miss so much next year,”
said Byrd coach Krista Martin.
Once the swimming started The Byrd boys took a 104-37 win over the
Titans but the Hidden Valley girls won their meet, 120-43. First places for Byrd
included Hadyn Terrell in the girls’ 100 free and the 100 breast, Richardson in the
boys’ 50 free and the 100 fly, Brody Parrish in the 500 free and 100 breast, Ben
Gardner in the 200 free and Copening in the 200 IM.
The Byrd swimmers also competed in the All-Timesland Meet at the
Gator Center last Saturday. Byrd’s Lindsay Murtaugh won the 200 and 500
freestyle events and freshman Hadyn Terrell finished second in the 200 IM and
third in the 100 breast. The girls’ 200 freestyle relay tied for third with the
foursome of Murtaugh, Addison Collins, Kayleigh Barber and Hadyn Terrell.
“All Timesland went well,” said Martin. “We had lots of great races in the
morning. We had 13 swimmers represent Byrd at finals and Finals had a great
energy and was a lot of fun to watch.”
Other top six finishes included Copening with a fifth in the 200 IM,
Parrish with a fifth in the 500 free and Richardson with a sixth in the 100
butterfly. The girls’ 200 Medley Relay team of Barber, Terrell, Murtaugh and
Collins was fourth and the boys’ 200 Medley Relay was sixth with Copening,
Parrish, Richardson and Christopher Hurd.
Byrd swam against Lord Botetourt at the Gator Center last Thursday. The
Byrd boys smoked the Cavaliers, 108-20, but the LB girls edged the Terriers, 83-
76.
