Wednesday, February 19, 2003
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Wednesday, February 19, 2003 |
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Patriots and Panthers swim well at state meets By MICHAEL
BOYLAN The local swim teams competed in the state meet last weekend and represented Fayette County well. in fact, Sandy Creek's Billy Jamerson won the school and the county's first ever individual state championship. Sandy Creek's swim team, coached by Joe DeGennaro, made the finals in five events, finished in the top 15 of teams competing in the AAAA/AAA/AA/A meet. The team set 16 personal records, 10 school records and one automatic All-American time. Jamerson was named state champion of the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 58.22 , a time good ewnough for All-American Honors. Jamerson finished third in the 50 with a time of 22.03 , a new school record. Angela Gellatly became the school's first female finalist by winning the consolation final and placing ninth in the 100 backstroke in a school record time of 1:02.03. She also set two other individual school records durng qualifying in the 100 backstroke (broken in the finals) and the 100 freestyle with a time of 56.79. Two Patriot Boys relay teams made the state finals, a first in the history of Sandy Creek swimming. The 200 medley relay team of Jamerson, Corey Little, Stephen Lawson and Drew Duncan set new school records in the qualifying and consolation finals. The team placed 13th overall with a time of 1:50.27. The 200 freestlye relay team of Lawson, Duncan, Jamerson and Cliff Turner also set new school records in qualifying and consolation finals. The team dropped over two seconds off their time during the finals and placed 11th overall with a new school record of 1:36.32. Two Patriot Girls relay teams qualified for the state meet, improved on their times and ranking during qualifying but did not qualify for the finals. The 200 medley relay team of Gellatly, Janine Raasch, Jessica Pratt, and Sara Harper set a new school record of 2:05.50 and finished 17th, one place out of the finals. The 200 freestyle team of Gellatly, Raasch, Pratt and Jessica Harper set a new school record with a time of 1:53.53 while finishing 25th overall. This marks the end of the best season ever for the Sandy Creek High School Patriot Swim Team. The Patriots set an increible 149 personal records and 38 school records, while garnering 10 state qualifiers and six state finalists. This season also produced the school's first ever metro champion, state champion and All-American swimme. With only five seniors graduating from this year's squad, the team is poised to improve even more and make another successful run at the state championships next year. Starr's Mill's swim team swam well at the 2003 GHSA AAAAA State Swimming Championships this past weekend. 827 swimmers from 54 teams throughout Georgia competed at Westminster on Feb 13 and 15. The Panthers were up against some of the biggest teams in the state. They swam a total of fifteen events in the meet, and of those nine made it to the finals session on Saturday. This year, Coach J.B. Campbell took a total of 14 swimmers to the state meet. Four individual swimmers and two of the relay teams placed in the top 16 overall. This is up from last year when the Panthers sent two individual swimmers and one relay team to the finals. Furthermore, the Panthers had many personal best swims. Junior Brittany Stevens placed sixth in the 100 butterfly (59.39) and 10th in the 50 freestyle (25.27). Her free time is a personal best, bettering her county record time (25.66). Senior Kenny Jubb was seventh in the 50 free (22.59) which is a personal best for him. Jubb placed eighth in the 100 free (49.71) a fraction higher than his personal best time swam in preliminaries (49.64). Sophomore Noah Copeland placed 14th in the 200 free (1.51.89) and 16th in the 500 free (5:05.72). He had even better swims during the prelims where he had personal best times in both events. Freshman Mackenzie Garrot placed 16th in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.09) but swam a personal best in prelims with a time of 1:11.70. The two relay teams that placed at finals were the boys 400 freestyle relay team of Copeland, senior Josh Strickland, junior Haynes Finney and Jubb (14th, 3:30.99) and the girls 200 medley relay team of freshman Georgia Highsmith, Garrot, Stevens and senior Samantha Hudson (16th, 2:00.06). During the preliminaries session Highsmith swam the 100 backstroke with a personal best time of 1:03.76 placing 19th. Garrot also swam a personal best time in the 100 freestyle (57.17) placing 17th. Four other relay events were swam during prelims. The boys 200 medley relay team of freshman Scott Adams, senior Chris Frederick, Strickland and Jubb placed 19th (1:49.81). The girls 200 free relay of Garrot, Brittney Wester, Hudson and Stevens also placed 19th (1:49.02). The boys 200 free relay team of Adams, Finney, Frederick and Strickland placed 27th (1.39.31). Hudson, senior Laurel Surratt, junior Libby Hardison and freshman Heather Highsmith placed 30th in the 400 free relay (4:15.29).
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