Panthers swimmers defeat Patriots, Chiefs win big too

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

The Starr's Mill swim team continued their winning season with a huge victory over Sandy Creek. The boys team scored 215 points to Sandy Creek's 46, while the girls outscored Sandy Creek 170-94. The Panther boys won all of their 11 events, while the girls won eight of 11. Both the boys and girls squads won every relay event they swam.

There were many impressive swimmers for the Panthers. Noah Copeland won both his individual events, the 200 free at a time of 2:08.50 and the 500 free at 5:34.77. Brandon Watkins won the 50 free with a time of 26.41, and Josh Strickland won the 100 butterfly at 1:03.22. Ricardo Ramos placed first in the 100 free with a time of 57.44.

For the girls Amanda Peterson came in first in the 200 free at 2:36.59, while placing second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:19:47. Samantha Hudson placed first in the 50 free at 28.84, and second in the 500 free with a time of 6:43.34. Ann Thrasher won the 100 free with a time of 1:09.33. Krista Ulrich placed first in the 100 back at 1:19.97, and second in the 200 free with a time of 2:41.82.

Other strong finishers were Laurel Surratt, Wes Paxton, Jared Siri and Haynes Finney. Brittany Stevens, Kyle Flora, and Kenny Jubb, the individual qualifiers for state to date, placed first in their events, with one second place finish. The state swim meet will be held at Westiminster in February. The Panthers next meet will be Jan. 12 at 9 a.m. at the Oconee County Invitational.

McIntosh High School's swim team easily beat five schools to win their third meet of the year at LaGrange College on Dec. 16. The boys team earned 103 points, beating LaGrange with 84 points and Columbus with 83. Other schools competing were Hardaway, Shaw and Troup.

"There were outstanding swims by Chris Lee, Mike Bowman, Andy Rapson and Chris Koperniak," said Coach Polly Kichefski.

The girls team earned 125 points to beat Columbus with 106, LaGrange with 47. Shaw, Hardaway and Troup followed.

"We were very pleased that the girls 200 Medley Relay qualified for state," said Kichefski. The members of the relay team are Annya Lee, Junco Mase, Hilary White and Asami Mase.

"Asami had a great meet, she also qualified for state in the 100 free," said Kichefski. "Anna Lione, Lindsey Lockridge, Lee, Junco Mase and White all had outstanding swims."

The Chiefs next meet will be Jan. 11 against Fayette County.

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