Starr’s Mill is the county champions of swimming once again. The Starr’s Mill boys placed third, while the Lady Panthers took first, good enough for a first place overall finish. McIntosh’s boys were first and the girls placed second, while Whitewater’s boys placed second and the Whitewater girls took third, putting Whitewater at third overall. McIntosh was 34 points away from defending county champion Starr’s Mill for the overall title.

Starr’s Mill’s Kristen Bates set a county record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.62, while McIntosh freshman Ariana Berg took second with a time of 1:08.79.

The Lady Panthers won six out of the eight individual events. Bates also won the 50-yard freestyle in a state qualifying time of 25.23. Other individual winners included senior and co-captain Sarah Larson, who took home the gold in the 100 freestyle with a time of 58.09, sophomore Lauren Scott winning the 200 individual medley and second in the 50 freestyle, fellow classmates Katie Haycraft winning the 200-yard freestyle and placing second in the 500 free and Bailey Cartwright taking the gold in the 100-yard backstroke and finishing third in the 100-yard butterfly.

Starr’s Mill’s girls also had a number of other solid finishes, including senior co-captain Megan Copeland finishing third in both the 200 and 500 freestyle, sophomore Kierstan Mossburg taking second in both the 200 free and 100- yard backstroke, freshman Courtney Harris placing third in the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke, junior Lauren Beatty taking third in the 50 free and placing second in the 100 butterfly with a state qualifying time of 104.44, sophomore Alex Curtis placing third in the 100 free.

The Lady Panthers also dominated the relay events, winning all three, while their “B” relays also finished in the top three teams. In the 200-medley relay, it was Cartwright, Larson, Scott and Haycraft touching first, while the team of Copeland, Bates, Beatty, and Goodman finished in second place. For the 200 free relay it was Beatty, Larson, Goodman, and Bates taking the gold, while Curtis, Harris, Mossburg and Cartwright grabbed the silver. And rounding out the relays it was Haycraft, Copeland, Larson and Scott winning the 400 free relay while the team of Mossburg, freshman Ashley Shad, Curtis and Harris finished third.

The Lady Chiefs took third in the women’s 200-yard medley relay (Ranes, Berg, Hannon and Rassett), fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay (Gair, Rassett, Trapaga and Manley) and second in the 400-yard freestyle relay (Berg, Hannon, Gair and Trapaga). Whitewater’s girls placed fourth and made state in the 200 medley relay (Heimann, Heimann, Bohrer and Moore) and placed third and made state in the 200 freestyle relay (Heimann, Heimann, Bohrer and Bidelman). They also placed fourth in the 400 freestyle relay (Bidelman, Moore, Coleman and Feilke) and fifth in the 200 freestyle relay (Coleman, Jennings, Groover and Feilke).

McIntosh’s Allison Gair placed third in the event and was also in third place in the 200 freestyle. Berg had a first-place finish in the 500 freestyle and teammate Keaton Hannon, a senior, was first in the 100 butterfly. Hannon also had a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley and sophomore Chanel Ranes placed third in the 100 backstroke.
Whitewater’s girls were led by Kristen Bohrer. She placed second in the 100 freestyle and third in the 50 freestyle.

Leading the McIntosh boys were juniors Alex Harmon and Adam Otaki. Harmon finished first in the men’s 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle, and Otaki took first in the men’s 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Freshman Jack Beall added to the team total with third-place finishes in the men’s 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Sophomore Jim Roddenbery added a second-place finish in the 100 freestyle and third in the men’s 200 freestyle.

Whitewater’s boys were led by Alex and Peter Menke. Alex had second-place finishes, both good to make state, in the 200 and 500 free, while Peter also placed second and made state in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breasstroke. Jaron Beckwith was first in the 100 backstroke and second in the 100 fly and both times were also good enough to make the state meet. Jordan Steen was third in the 100 freestyle and Patrick Mason placed third in the 500 freestyle.

Despite finishing third in on the men’s side Starr’s Mill did break a county record and qualified more men for the state meet. The men broke the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:33.95. Members of the record setting relay were sophomore Eric Presley, senior Scott Houghtaling, junior Brett Matthews and sophomore David Wright. Wright also took home gold in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.16. His teammate Presley grabbed a state qualifying time in the 50 free with a 23.15, while winning the 100 free in a 52.20. Other Starr’s Mill men placing high were senior Matt Boyle, third in the 200 IM, junior Brett Matthews, third in the 100 breastroke, and sophomore Ryan Haycraft, third in the 100 backstroke.

In the relays, McIntosh took first in the 400-yard freestyle (Beall, Otaki, Roddenbery and Harmon), second in the 200-yard medley (Beall, Otaki, Roddenberry and Harmon) and fourth in the 200-yard medley (seniors Forsyth, Beall and Cordell and Day). They also captured third in the 200-freestyle relay (Cordell, Heard, Larson, and Burk).

Whitewater’s boys were second in the 200 freestyle relay (Menke, Steen, Mason and Beckwith) and fourth (Todd, Borcik, Coleman and Starkey) and second (Menke, Menke, Mason and Beckwith) and fourth (Todd, Coleman, Loeffler and Steen) in the 400 freestyle relay. The second-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay and the second- and fourth-place finishes in the 400 freestyle relay were good enough to make state.

The Starr’s Mill men also got a win in the 200 medley relay with a team of Haycraft, Matthews, Boyle, and Wright, while the team of Haycraft, Presley, Mark Buck and Wright finished third in the 400 freestyle relay.