Alarii Levreault-Lopez and his Woodstock teammates had a banner performance in the Cherokee County Invitational on Saturday, sweeping the boys, girls and overall titles. It ended an eight-year reign the Wolverines’ archrival, Etowah, had with the overall championship.
Staff file photo

HOLLY SPRINGS — Woodstock ended Etowah’s eight-year swimming reign Saturday, sweeping the girls, boys and overall titles at the Cherokee County Invitational.

Etowah (453 points) finished second behind Woodstock (525) in the overall standings, with Sequoyah (334) third. River Ridge (290) was fourth followed by Creekview (207) and Cherokee (56).

In the girls standings. Woodstock (281) was followed by Etowah (229), Sequoyah (213), Creekview (105), River Ridge (64) and Cherokee (60). For the boys, Woodstock (244) was followed by River Ridge (226), Etowah (224), Sequoyah (121), Creekview (102) and Cherokee (35).

Etowah coach Virginia Diederich was pleased with her team’s finish, even if the title streak ended.

“I knew that we just didn’t have the depth in our team to cover all of the events, and I always knew that Woodstock had some really good freshmen coming up,” Diederich said. “I really thought we weren’t going to be able to do it last year. ... I was actually really proud of our kids.”

Etowah had a few unfortunate things happened down the stretch, with one relay team disqualified, but Diederich didn’t make excuses.

“That loss of points really hurt us, but it’s never one thing that wins or loses a meet,” she said. “We had kids dropping times left and right. Even after they lost, I was just really proud of their reaction.”

Diederich said Etowah will use the loss as motivation next year.

By finishing second in the boys standings, the Knights spoiled what could have been another county title for Etowah.

In many of the races, a River Ridge swimmer finished just ahead of one from Etowah. That was the case in the boys 200-meter medley relay, when Woodstock’s Josh Thrift, Michael McDowell, Alarii Levreault-Lopez and Owen Bailey finished first. Second were River Ridge’s Josh Butler, Brian Okavec, Brad Burke and Greer Blackmon. Etowah was less than a second behind River Ridge, but it was one point that proved costly in the end.

The story was similar in the boys 200 and 400 free relays, where Woodstock once more won the titles, followed by River Ridge and Etowah.

Woodstock was led to victory with first-place finishes by Chase Moore (boys 200 free, 100 free), Lauren Case (girls 200 free, 100 fly), Levreault-Lopez (boys 100 fly, 100 back), McDowell (boys 100 breast) and Jaci Csubak (girls 100 breast).

Levreault-Lopez’s time of 52.35 seconds in the 100 fly set a new meet record, and his time of 52.04 was a meet record in the 100 back.

Woodstock also won the girls 200 free relay, with the team of Amber Miller, Kenady Kilgore, Taylor Shephard and Megan Omera.

Sequoyah posted a victory in the girls 200 medley (Meghan Pearson, Sophie Roy, Kamryn Carter and Kristina Friedichs) and had several individual titles on the girls side.

Sequoyah was led by first-place finishes by Carter (girls 200 IM), Rachel Pelzek (girls 100 free) and Friedrichs (girls 50 free).

Jonathan Young won the boys 200 IM for Etowah, just ahead of Woodstock’s Thrift. Meanwhile his brother, Joey, won the boys 500 free with a time of 4:47.19. An Etowah swimmer was also the winner in the girls 500, with Molly Green winning in 5:11.3

Green also won the girls 100 back, edging Creekview’s Michelle McCord by a half-second.

River Ridge did more than just finish third overall and second on the boys side. Several new school records were set, including the boys 200 free relay. Burke also set the school record in the 200 free, while Greer Blackmon set a new time in the 50 free with his winning time of 22.66 seconds.

On the girls side, Avery Blackmon set records in the 100 free and 50 free.

Sequoyah coach Nell Hess said her team finished where she expected, but she wasn’t taking it for granted.

“I’ve been around this county meet since the beginning and have seen a lot of different things happen, so I always know there are no guarantees,” she said. “I was ecstatic that we did finish third, and we have a young group who I hope will continue to challenge the other teams in the future.”