July 30, 2014

Villhauer, Butler grab GRPA state titles

By Brandon Michea

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For the second year in a row, Dylan Villhauer earned two trips to the top of the podium at the Georgia Parks & Recreation Association’s Summer Swim League State Championships, capturing the 18-under boys’ 50 Freestyle and 50 Butterfly titles at the Class A meet, July 25-26, at the Cumming Aquatic Center.

After winning the 18U 50 and 100 free titles a summer ago, Villhauer, who was one of 13 swimmers to win a pair of titles out of the 60 individual events, raced to the finish against Josh Butler in the 50 Free and edged the fellow Woodstock native by .16 of a second, posting a winning time of 22.59. He then went on to take the 50 Fly in 23.91 –– 1.31 seconds better than the runner-up.

Not to be denied of a title, Butler more than complemented his runner-up time in the 50 Free (22.75) by claiming the 18U boys’ 50 Backstroke in 26.11 seconds.

Butler and Villhauer also paired with Daniel Gordon and Sean Hackaday to deliver a third-place finish of 1:47.06 of 18U boys’

Medley Relay. In addition to 18U boys’ standouts, 13 other county swimmers aided the Cherokee Cyclones squad to 13 more podium finishes, including Garrett Dempsey and Grant Davis, who each earned a pair of top-eight showings.

Just .44 of a second behind Gwinnett’s Connor McKinney, Dempsey was second in the 14U boys’ 50 Fly with a 26.57 and grabbed fourth in the 100 Individual Medley (IM) with a 1:02.43. Davis, meanwhile, reached the finals in both the 10U boys’ 50 Free (29.43) and 100 IM (1:18.16) and placed eighth in each.

Helping Dempsey add to an impressive overall showing by the Cyclones’ 14U boys, Thaddeus Palmer took sixth (28.48) in the

50 Fly; Evan Adamson was eighth (34.97) in the 50 Breaststroke; Palmer, Adamson, Brock Edwards and Dylan Banker charted an eighth-place (2:06.78) effort in the 200 Medley Relay; and Drew Madsen, Kade Donaldson, Banker and Edwards landed eighth (1:51.60) in the 200 Free Relay.

Also claiming podium spots from Cherokee were 8U boys’ Clint Schuler (50 Free, 34.78, fourth place); 8U girls’ Tristan Barber (25 Back, 20.81, sixth); 10U girls’ Laurel Blase (25 Free, 14.59, sixth); 10U boys’ Jacob Herbert (25 Breast, 18.87, seventh); and 14U girls’ Ansley Davis (50 Back, 30.28, fifth).

Not far off from charting finals’ performances, Ty Dangerfield (18U boys’ 100 IM, 1:05.11), Ashley Fortin (10U girls’ 100 IM, 1:22.03), Ansley Davis (50 Fly, 29.97), Hackaday (50 Back, 29.10), Reya Kiser (8U girls’ 25 Fly, 20.58) and the Cyclones’ 10U girls 100 Free Relay team (1:01.28) posted 10th-place finishes; the 10U girls’ 100 Medley Relay team (1:10.82), Kaitlin Blankenship (10U girls’ 25 Free, 15.36), Clare Mills (8U girls’ 100 IM, 1:41; 25 Back, 21.26), Madsen (100 IM, 1:09.76) and Fortin (25 Fly, 16.90) were 11th; and Banker (50 Breast, 36.55), Lainey Blase (8U girls’ 25 Back, 21.36),

Edwards (50 Fly, 29.76), Bryan Stevens (14U boys’ 50 Back (32.38) and the 10U boys’ 100 Free Relay team (1:00.29) placed 12th.