Bayou Black edges out Cut Off to win SCSA title

In the closest finish in South Central Swim Association history, the Bayou Black Tarpons edged out the Cut Off Youth Center Hurricanes by 6.5 points for its first ever SCSA title on Saturday.

The Tarpons depth at every age group was key in their victory, along with swimmers slashing seconds off their personal best times.

“I had kids literally dropping five and six seconds off their IMs (individual medleys) on every swim,” said Tarpons coach Amy Williams. “That’s just pure heart. They just left it all out there in the pool. They didn’t save it for another race or another day.”

Bayou Black earned 3,803 points to the Hurricanes 3,796.5 points. The Tarpons held on to victory despite Cut Off swimmers winning more events (25-to-20) in the championship meet.

“I’m so proud of them. Everybody did above what they were supposed to do today,” said Hurricanes coach Erin Danos. “We had lots of high points; more than you can ask.”

The meet was expected to be a tight battle between the top three teams in the league.

The defending SCSA champion Larose Lasers went 6-0 in dual meets this summer but finished third at the meet with 3,542 points.

The YMCA Orcas finished its dual meet season 4-2 and placed fourth in the championships with 3,411 points.

After a 5-1 summer season, Williams knew her squad could capture the crown with some fine-tuning in practice.

“We work a lot on starts, turns and finishes,” she said. “In championship meets, the most critical thing is getting off walls and getting off the block. They have the distance and the speed. It’s just a matter of picking up those little things.”

The Hurricanes’ 2-4 record in dual meets this summer did not reflect the team’s talent and capabilities.

“We had a lot of kids miss dual races this year,” said Danos, a first-year coach. “Our meets were close. We lost one by seven points, one by 11 points. I always knew we would be close, but not this close.”

There were 12 records broken during the championship meet in Larose.

The Lasers set three relay records in their home pool – 13 to 14 girls’ 200-meter freestyle and medley relays (2:03.59 and 2:15.53 respectively) and 15 to 18 boys’ 200-meter medley relay (2:03.13).

Bayou Black’s Gavin Erdmann and Cut Off’s Nicholas Guidry set two new marks each in the boys 11-12 age group. Erdmann broke 50-meter freestyle (30.01) and 50-meter backstroke (34.39) records, while Guidry holds the 50-meter breaststroke (38.16) and the 100-meter individual medley (1:15.56) mark.

The most poignant moment came in the last of the 78 events that day.

Monique Lefort capped off her final summer league meet with four individual wins and one relay win, including the 100-meter individual medley finale.

“Before my race, I was tearing up. I couldn’t help it,” she said. “Everybody behind me was telling me, ‘This is your last one. This is it.’ So it hit me.”

As she tapped the pool wall for the win, it started to rain, yet it seemed like she did not want to leave the pool. With good friends Amber Pierce of the Bayou Sting Rays to her left and Bayou Country Club’s Michelle Gaubert to her right, Lefort enjoyed an emotional farewell.

“I just wanted to be in the moment because it was my last one. I didn’t want to get out,” she explained.

“It was just a pleasure for my last year to be racing Amber and Michelle,” she added.

She was a little upset to learn she broke Pierce’s 50-meter backstroke record with a time of 31.47 seconds.

“I didn’t even know it was hers until she said, ‘Hey, you took my record,'” said Lefort. “Oops. But she has another year to get it back.”

Other teams competing at the weekend’s SCSA championships were: Bayou Country Club Bandits, fifth, 3,345.5; Bayou Sting Rays, sixth, 2,872; Lockport Lightning, seventh, 1,734; and Tri-City Silver Tide, eighth, 1,717.