BY MILES LAYTON

Though we’re more or less in between winter and spring sports seasons, here are a few highlights from the Pirates and Aces.  

Let’s start with Pirates’ Catherine Howell, who recently competed at the NC High School Athletic Association State Championship, where she swam the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter breaststroke at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. 

Pirates’ Coach Vicky West said Howell’s 200-meter freestyle (2:09.47 min/17th place) was her second fastest time ever, and she set a personal record with her 100-meter breaststroke (1:11.84 min/8th place). Howell was the first Pirates’ swimmer to ever place in the elite eight.

Last year, Howell narrowly missed the team record by .03.This year, one of her goals was to break that record, and she did so each of the last four times she swam it this season, West said. By the state meet, Howell ended up breaking the record she missed by .03 by 3.03 seconds, which is pretty significant at this level of swimming,
            
Howell is a great example of a PCHS’ senior student athlete – 100 percent! 

“Catherine works hard in the classroom and in the pool and it absolutely shows in her results,” West said. “She’s also an incredible teammate and leader that’s always willing to help out her teammates. With pool time and space being limited in this area, Catherine was always willing to put in extra work outside of practice time to be the best she could be.”

West continued, “As someone who has coached swimming in several states over the years, an intelligent athlete with a great work ethic who is also a great teammate is exactly the type of swimmer every coach wants to work with.”

Pacing and racing in the fast lane, Howell did her best, leaving all on the field or, rather, the swimming pool – her last high school swim meet.    

“It was very nerve racking, but very exciting! It has been a goal of mine to make A finals (heat of the top eight swimmers in the event) for the past four years of high school, and I was able to do that my senior year,” she said “It’s always a privilege to swim with other girls who are so talented in this sport. I would definitely say I left it all in the pool! It was my last high school race ever, so I didn’t want to leave with any regrets. I believe I swam my heart out in everything, which I try to do in each and every one of my races.” 

Good swimmers spend hours in the pool doing drills and many, many, many laps. Think about it – 71 laps is a mile in a 25-meter pool, with many swimmers rounding up to 72 laps just in case they lost count and maybe missed that one lap around the half mile mark. Swimming is a total body workout that requires focus and dedication to do the best flipturn when touching the wall, holding your breath for a 3-4 count when pushing away, then blasting it full force until you cross under the flag and tap the wall.  

Howell never let up, never wavered in her drive to succeed.  

“Absolutely! In order to reach my goals, I knew I was going to have to put in a lot of extra work,” she said. “This included incorporating weight training on my own time and coming before/staying after practice to get more laps in. While it was a lot of work and a lot of hours at the pool, I don’t regret any of it. I think that the hard work payed off in the end.”

Love this quote – giving credit to God!  
 
“At the end of the day, however, I want to give all of the credit to God,” Howell said. “Swimming has been a rollercoaster for me throughout the years and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without Him. He has blessed me with the health, ability, and talent to do this, so I want to dedicate all of the work I’ve been blessed to do and the success I’ve had to Him.” 

Being a senior, Howell said she received an excellent education from Perquimans County Schools. Howell is North Carolina’s nominee for Presidential Scholars Program and she was a member of the Pirates’ volleyball team that finished as runner-up at the state championship. Howell’s parents are Dr. Ruston Howell and Amanda Howell of Hertford.     

“Although we live in a small community, I think I have gotten a lot of opportunities at PCHS,” she said. “Since we live in such an agriculture based community, I’ve had a lot of hands-on opportunities with that. For example, I was able to obtain a certification in vet assisting at school which can help me in the future. PCHS also has given me multiple other career opportunities to explore, including health careers.”

Howell continued, “I have also been given the opportunity to take higher level classes to prepare me for college. I have learned a lot in my high school journey and I am very thankful for the staff at PCHS that have made that possible.”  

In other sports news, Aces’ Amaya Cortezano finished ninth in the 500-meter dash (1:23.47 min) and Landon Morgan finished ninth in the triple jump (40.06 feet) Friday at the NCHSAA State Championship in Winston Salem.  

Aces’ wrestler Gavin Pierce has qualified for the state championship.  

More about these Aces’ athletes will appear in future sports stories. 

Aces’ boys’ basketball team (11-12 overall, 5-9 conference) narrowly lost to Hertford County 57-60 on Wednesday and against Northeastern by a score of 59-67 at home on Friday. Senior night – these Aces’ players took a bow:
Josh O’Neill
Brandon Cherry
Naijhir White
Ke’Monte Wilson
Zach Walston
Maddox Bass
Jaemikle Etheridge

Aces’ girls basketball team (8-14 overall, 6-8 in the conference) defeated Camden 47-28 on Tuesday, lost 38-48 against Hertford County on Thursday and fell to Northeaster 39-45 on Saturday. 

If you want to subscribe — FREE — check out our website at https://albemarleobserver.news/

If you want to subscribe – you can enter your email address at the website or send it to us at albemarle.observer@gmail.com and we will gladly add you to our growing subscriber list.

You can also donate by going to the Donations page by clicking here or send us a check at Albemarle Observer, C/O Miles Layton, 205 E. Church St., Edenton, NC 27932