Allisan Bendall was determined to find the top of the podium Saturday night in the 100 breaststroke. And not just for her.
“I was so excited because my sister wasn’t able to get first (in this event) so I was happy to do it for me and for her,” Bendall said.
Bendall pulled it off with a time of 1:05.97, dropping 0.49 seconds to win the event state title and help spark Monticello’s girls to a sixth place finish in the VHSl Class 3 state meet as a team.
Bendall’s sister Elisabeth Bendall was the state runner-up three different times in the 100 breaststroke behind some phenomenal swimmers and now swims for Division I Northeastern University.
It helped the younger Bendall to be in an extremely fast race and to have her teammate Mariam Mithqual in the lane right beside her in this one.
“Mariam and I, we’ve always raced next to each other and she’s one of my closest friends,” Bendall said. “I was so excited to have her next to me because the morale was just great, we were just so happy at the end.”
Mithqual took third and combined with Bendall and Eloise Weary to carry the scoring load for the Mustangs. Bendall added a ninth place in the 500 free relay and swam a leg on the fourth place 200 free relay. The Mustangs appeared to finish fourth in the 200 medley relay that Bendall swam on but Monticello was disqualified in that race for a swimmer leaving the block early.
Mithqual took sixth in the 100 free to go with her third in the 100 breaststroke and also swam a leg of the fourth place 200 free relay squad. Weary took seventh in the 50 free and 13th in the 100 free while also swimming on the 200 free relay squad.
Fluvanna County’s girls squad took 11th as a team with sophomore Alex Fuller setting the pace. Fuller took second in the 50 free and the 100 butterfly, adding to an impressive growing resume for the Flucos’ young star who got a boost from the competition level in the pool.
“This is one of my favorite meets because I really like Ben Hair too,” Fuller said. “It pushed me so I could go best times in both my individual events and I’m really happy with it.”
Like Bendall, Fuller’s older sister Abby was a big time swimmer who now competes for the University of Richmond.
She also swam legs on the 200 free relay that took eighth place and the 200 medley relay that took 12th. On the dive side, Sarah Beth Robinson took eighth for the Flucos and Ashlyn Wolkowicz took 11th.
Sophomore Callie Horst and freshman Olivia Spooner carried Goochland to a 17th place finish as a team with Horst taking ninth in the 200 free and 100 backstroke while Spooner took ninth in the 50 free and 100 free.
William Monroe senior Cayden Fix took sixth in the 50 free and 10th in the 100 backstroke while also swimming a leg of a 14th place 200 free relay squad for the Dragons.
