Academy of the Holy Names did something this past weekend that no other Hillsborough County girls swim program, public or private, had done in the 102-year history of the state meet.
The Jaguars won a state team title.
They had been close before, finishing as the state runnerup three straight years from 2016-18. Each time, Academy of the Holy Names lost to powerhouse Miami Gulliver Prep.
Once again, the Jaguars were in the same classification as Gulliver Prep.
But there was no sense of doom.
Academy of the Holy Names was determined to change its recent state meet history by making some of its own.
Ending years of frustration, the Jaguars were dominant, winning five individual events and two relays – and setting school records in all seven.
By winning so many events, Academy of the Holy Names racked up a considerable amount of points, so much that the Jaguars finished with 352 – outscoring nemesis Gulliver Prep by 98.
“”We have a pretty stacked team so I knew we had a good shot this year,” Academy of the Holy Names coach Bill Shaffer said of winning what has been an elusive state team title. “But everything went better than I even expected.”
About the only thing possibly holding the Jaguars back was the timing of the event. The Class 2A meet was pushed back a week to deal with the impact of Hurricane Nicole.
Shaffer was unsure how much that week-long delay would disrupt the tapering his swimmers went through to swim at peak potential.
It did not matter.
Brooke Beede won the 200 free (1:50.87) and 100 back (56.73). Isabel Dieffenthaller took first in the 50 free (23.41) and the 100 free (51.05).
And Isabel Sayag won the 200 individual medley (2:05.43).
Dieffenthaller teamed with Katherine Pettit, Lily Rittenhouse and Megan Hyer on the winning 200 free relay (1:38.25). The 400 free relay of Beede, Dieffenthaller, Pettit and Sayag also won in 3:30.30.
Their performance was instrumental in the Jaguars winning the first state girls team title in Hillsborough County and just the third ever in the Tampa Bay area (the other two were in East Lake in 2014 and Seminole in 1985).
They won it not just for themselves but also to honor Callin Cannella, a former Academy of the Holy Names swimmer who died five years ago after a year-long battle with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that usually affects children. She was 14.
Her resolve became the inspiration for a hashtag adopted by the school’s swim program: #CailinStrong.
Academy of the Holy Names continues to honor Canella with a memorial plaque near the front of the pool on campus. Her younger sister, Ashlin, swam for the Jaguars state championship team this year.
“We had CalinStorng on the back of our state championship shirts,” Shaffer said. “The screen shot on my phone still is of a rainbow at the pool after she passed. She is always on our minds, and certainly was in winning this title.”
