Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
Now five years into his tenure as the head coach of the Bolles School Sharks, former U.S. Olympic Trials finalist Peter Verhoef has been constantly producing elite age group swimmers in Florida, and that was put on full display in December at the Winter Junior Championships.
Competing at the East edition of Winter Juniors in Greensboro,the Bolles School boys dominated the team standings, scoring 460 points to finish 180 clear of runner-up Lakeside (280), while the Bolles girls ranked 8th with 167 points, giving the team the combined victory.
The top scorer for Bolles was 17-year-old Xavier Sohovich, a Navy commit who set best times en route to placing 2nd in the boys’ 500 free (4:15.46), 3rd in the 200 free (1:34.66) and 10th in the 100 free (43.79). He followed up by re-lowering his 100 free best time leading off the Bolles 400 free relay in 43.68.
Sohovich’s teammate Andy Kravchenko, also 17, was the second-highest scorer for the Sharks after he set lifetime bests in the boys’ 50 free (19.80), 100 free (43.06) and 200 free (1:37.51), landing the Stanford commit respective finishes of 6th, 3rd and 16th.
Other standouts for the boys’ team included 16-year-old Antoine Destang, who set best times in the 50 free, 100 fly and 200 fly, with his 100 fly swim of 47.16 placing him 5th, while 18-year-old Sascha Macht scored multiple PBs, highlighted by his 1:46.04 clocking in the 200 IM that landed him a spot in the ‘A’ final.
Another notable performer was Liam Carrington, who set a best time of 1:35.49 in the 200 free to top the ‘B’ final, and added PBs in the 200 back and 200 IM.
On the girls’ side, 17-year-old Lila Higgo led the way with 14 points, highlighted by her 6th-place finish in the 100 back, while fellow 17-year-old Lucy Mejia Arce had a pair of top-12 finishes and set best times in the 100 back (53.60) and 200 back (1:56.61).
However, perhaps the best gauge of how well Verhoef’s squad performed in Greensboro was on display in the boys’ relays. They won four of the five relays at the East meet, and combining results with the West edition, they were the fastest team in two relays and second-fastest in three others. Beyond that, they had their ‘B’ relay finish in the top eight of four relays in the combined relays, flexing their impressive depth.
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