Area high school swimmers compete, earn state titles at swim and dive championships
Multiple area swimmers competed at the high school swimming and diving state meet on Dec. 2, and many placed in the top eight in the state. Included in the lineup were swimmers and divers from Spain Park, Briarwood Christian School and Westminster School at Oak Mountain.
For Class 1A-5A, Westminster’s girls 200 medley relay team started off the state meet by earning eighth place.
Campbell Lemons of Westminster then placed second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46.12 and Briarwood Christian School’s Mason Mathias placed third with a time of 1:46.41.
Briarwood’s Thomas Dillard followed, competing in the 50 freestyle, and placed seventh overall. He rounded out his individual events for the day with an eighth-place finish in the 100 freestyle in Class 1A-5A.
Shortly thereafter, the Lions earned a state champion title as Mason won the 1A-5A boys 500 freestyle state champion by nearly four seconds, swimming a 4:44.62. Lemons placed third with a time of 4:50.06.
Briarwood Christian’s 200 freestyle relay team of Holden Patterson, Joseph Bell, Dillard and Mathias placed fifth and the same team carried their momentum to a third place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.
Westminster’s 400 freestyle relay team capped off its meet with a fifth place finish in the boys 400 freestyle relay.
For Class 7A, Spain Park’s girls 200 medley relay placed sixth, followed shortly by Jag Abby Brown Strohmeier taking sixth in the girls 200 freestyle. Jag Ward Lockhart gained momentum during his first individual event, the boys 200 freestyle, and earned second with a time of 1:43.88.
Spain Park continued with more swimmers in the top eight, with Bailey Deas placing eighth in the girls 200 individual medley; Justin Zhang then taking 10th in the boys 200 individual medley; and teammates Evan Trueb and Austin Stallworth earning 16th and fifth in the 50 freestyle, respectively.
Oak Mountain High School’s Haley Burt claimed fifth in the 50 freestyle and would go on to earn fourth in the 100 freestyle.
The Jags also had two swimmers compete in the 100 butterfly: Katie Groves, who placed 10th, and Deas, who placed fourth. Oak Mountain’s Josh Myers earned 15th in the boys 100 butterfly.
Strohmeier returned in the following event, the girls 100 freestyle, to claim eighth, and Stallworth placed fifth overall in the boys equivalent.
Seventh grader Carson Muir from Spain Park earned ninth in the girls 500 freestyle after dropping nearly 6 seconds from her prelims swim and Chelsea High School’s Cathy Diaz placed 13th.
Jag Lockhart became the boys 500 freestyle state champion with a time of 4:38.88, winning by over eight seconds. This was also a new 6A-7A state record according to AHSAA.
The Jag’s girls 200 freestyle relay team earned 14th place finish, tying their same time from prelims, and the boys relay team of Lockhart, Trueb, Zhang and Stallworth out touched Auburn High School by 0.07 seconds to place second with a time of 1:28.83.
Zhang swam the last individual event of the day for Spain Park, placing eighth in the 100 backstroke.
For the final event, the Lady Jags took eighth in the 400 freestyle relay and the boys finished fifth place in the same event.
Spain Park also had three divers compete at the state meet in 1-meter diving: Zachary El-Fallah, who placed second; Jon Pickett, who placed sixth; and Ramsey El-Fallah, who placed 13th. Ramsey El-Fallah also swam in 400 free relay in both prelims and finals.
Spain Park’s swim coach, Sally Mathias, said she was pleased with everyone’s events and is looking forward to next year.
“I was very pleased with my swimmers’ performance and I think it was one of the best teams we’ve had in recent years,” she said, noting Spain Park has a young team with just two senior girls. “I just plan on them all improving.”