By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

VACHERIE — LaVacherie clinched at least second place in the River Parish Swim League with a victory at home over Riverlands Thursday night, 300-252, pushing their record to 4-1.

Riverlands finishes the 2011 swimming campaign in third place at 3-3, and now turns its attention to the River Parishes Swim League Invitational next week at Ellington.

“LaVacherie has a very good swim team, every age group from top to bottom,” said Riverlands coach Lindsey Eichhorn. “It wasn’t a case where our kids did anything wrong. We showed up and we did the right things. But they’re a very good, well coached team and they just beat us that night.”

The teams split the opening two events, LaVacherie taking the freestyle and Riverlands the backstroke. After two strokes, the host led 115-100.

But LaVacherie created some separation in the breaststroke, outscoring the Stingrays 70-37. That gave LaVacherie a 48-point lead, and it extended the lead to 237-175 entering the relays.

Riverlands outscored LaVacherie over the relays, but it wasn’t enough.

Maddie Guidry led the way for the Stingrays on the night, scoring two first-place finishes.

Landon Marple, Thomas Berthalot, Thomas Chapman, John Tracy, Maddie Sympson, Anna Guidry, Will Torres, Grace Richoux, Albert Hane, Andre St. Martin and Lane Gendron rounded out first place winners for Riverlands.

Now, with the Invitational around the corner, Eichhorn said her team would work on some specific skills to get ready, with particular emphasis on endurance.

“At Ellington, the pool is a little bit longer, so you’ve got to be ready,” said Eichhorn. “You can’t get tired and let up at the very end. So we’ll work on building up a little more endurance.”