By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Riverlands shook off a loss to LARAYO last week to put a notch in the win column, defeating visiting Ellington 375.5-166.5.

The Stingrays moved to a record of 2-1 on the season, keeping pace with the other teams in the top half of the River Parish Swim League standings.

The Stingrays took a commanding lead early, leading 141-74 after two full events. Riverlands scored 60 or more points in each event, peaking at a score of 69.5 in the breaststroke, and finished the night off with a strong performance in the relay events (49 in the medley relay, 56 in the freestyle).

“It’s showing the kids that practice is paying off,” said Riverlands swim coach Lindsey Vicknair. “I’ll never say we’re perfect because you can always improve, but I’m happy about our progress for sure. We’ve been steadily getting better, which is the goal.”

Grace Richoux and Maddie Guidry led the way for Riverlands, each scoring three first place victories.

The Stingrays’ Jillian Badeaux, Jack Chapman, Anna Guidry, Olivia Hijaz and Natalie St. Martin took first in two events each.

Nathan Hall, Cade Pregeant, Trey Romaguera, Shea Waguespack, Emma Dooley, Hannah Dooley, Raigen Cosse, Morgan Williams, Alex Noel, Luke Perret, Jordan St. Pierre, Jack Young and Elise Loisel rounded out individual winners for Riverlands.

After finishing in a tie for second place a year ago with LaVacherie, Riverlands hopes to entrench themselves in that elite class again this season. Though the Stingrays have already lost to LARAYO, again heavily favored to take an undefeated swim league crown, a top-two finish is very much in play, with Riverlands enjoying two dominant victories already.

“They’re enjoying it. When they learned the final, they were pretty excited,” said Vicknair.

The Stingrays had a bye Thursday, and Vicknair said that it meant a little extra effort at practice was to be expected.

“We don’t have to worry about wearing ourselves out before a meet,” said Vicknair. “So practice gets a little tougher. We’re focusing on conditioning for the second half.”

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