By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

McIntosh High School won its sixth straight county swimming championship recently, scoring 354 total points.

Starr's Mill took second place with 302 points, while Fayette County placed third with 181 and Sandy Creek finished in fourth place with 137 points.

McIntosh won with strong performances from both the boys and the girls squads. The individual swimmers placed first and second in the 50-yard freestyle, Molly MacGregor and Emily Maple; the 100-yard freestyle, MacGregor and Asami Mase, and the 100-yard breaststroke, Mase and Ali Derr.

Fayette County's Kelly Ireland narrowly defeated Jessica Betts of Starr's Mill in the 100-yard backstroke, while McIntosh's Annya Lee took the county titles in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly. Becky Brokish, another swimmer for the Lady Chiefs, won the 200- and 500-yard freestyle.

The girls 200-yard medley relay teams of McIntosh, Fayette County and Starr's Mill all qualified for the state championships. It appeared Fayette County's team of Kellie Ireland, Kamie Ham, Calle Fielden and Bridgette Farley won the race with a time of 2:04.60, but the judges awarded first place to the Starr's Mill's team, which finished with a time of 2:07.60. McIntosh finished third with a time of 2:08.52.

The final scores in the girls competition were McIntosh (182), Starr's Mill (134), Fayette County (126) and Sandy Creek (69).

It was the closest margin of victory in the history of the county championship as McIntosh edged Starr's Mill 172-168. Sandy Creek finished in third place with 68 points, while Fayette County took fourth place with 55 points.

The Chiefs traded wins with Starr's Mill throughout the meet. McIntosh's George Clark and team co-captain Luke McMurray finished 1-2 in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events. Starr's Mill responded with a 1-2 finish in the 100-yard backstroke from Kenny Jubb and Brian Pankopp.

Starr's Mill's Aaron Wilson edged McIntosh's Chris Jobson in the 100-yard breaststroke, but Jobson came back to win the 200-yard individual medley. Jobson's time was good enough to qualify him for the state meet and to set a county meet record. Wilson set the county record in the 50-yard freestyle, ahead of McIntosh's Michael Powers. Starr's Mill got big wins from Brett Stevens, who won the 100-yard butterfly, and Kenny Jubb in the 100.

McIntosh took first and third place in the 400-yard freestyle relay, while Starr's Mill won the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay.

The state qualifiers from all four county schools will compete in their respective state meets this weekend. McIntosh and Fayette County will swim in the AAAA state championship in Savannah Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18 and 19, and Starr's Mill and Sandy Creek will swim in the AAA state championship at Riverside Academy on the same dates.

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