Cherokee Ledger-News: Sequoyah girls record best finish at state meets
Woodstock’s Case defends title, Sequoyah girls record best finish at state meets
By Adam Carrington | Posted: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 12:00 am
Woodstock's Case wins state title
Lauren Case of Woodstock captures state title.
Lauren Case capped her stellar high school swimming career by capturing her fourth and fifth state titles Saturday at the Class AAAAAA meet at Georgia Tech.
She defended her state championships in the 200-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly with relative ease, and her individual performances helped the Lady Wolverines secure a 10th-place finish overall with 115 points. Lambert won with 377.
Case, who will be swimming at Texas in the fall, recorded a personal-best time of 52.78 seconds in winning the 100 butterfly. She fell .34 seconds shy of matching the state record set by Marist’s Kathleen Hersey in 2008.
In the 200 freestyle, which Case won for the third straight year, she cut nearly 6 seconds off her preliminary time and won in 1:45.85. It was .56 seconds off the state record set by Westminster’s Nicole Stafford in 2013.
“I’m so glad I was able to go out like that,” Case said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
Woodstock’s Kailey Austin was seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.39) and 13th in the 200 IM (2:09.65), while Elizabeth Bryne contributed with an 18th-place showing in the 500 freestyle (5:15.55). The Lady Wolverines’ 400 freestyle relay was seventh (3:37.97).
The Etowah boys were 23rd overall.
Jonathan Young led the Eagles by finishing seventh in the 100 butterfly (52.08) and 13th in the 100 backstroke (53.12) — just behind his brother, Joey (52.75).
While the Class AAAAAA swimmers were competing in their own meet, Sequoyah, Creekview and River Ridge were competing in the Class A-AAAAA meet.
For the first time, Sequoyah’s girls swimming program stood on the podium at the state championships, finishing third overall with 192 points.
The podium had plenty of room for the Lady Chiefs’ roster, which consisted of four swimmers and one diver — one less swimmer than they had a year ago, when they finished fifth.
“I’m so shaky right now, it’s not even funny,” Sequoyah coach Nell Hess said. “They brought it (Saturday) and worked their butts off. This is the best we’ve ever done.”
Marist scored 225 points to win the state title, with Dunwoody second at 215.
Sequoyah saved its best for last when it finished second in the 400-yard freestyle. Sophie Roy, Jordan Weems, Kamryn Carter and Kristina Friedrichs finished with a time of 3 minutes, 34.23 seconds, but they couldn’t catch up to Dunwoody’s relay (3:32.95).
Sequoyah briefly moved up to second behind Marist, after Friedrichs and Carter finished second and fourth in the 100 freestyles with their respective times of 52.17 and 53.05.
“It’s huge when you can have two of your swimmers place high up,” Hess said.
The Lady Chiefs maintained their second-place status as Weems finished ninth in the 500 freestyle (5:15.06) and 20th in the 100 backstroke (1:01.66).
Dunwoody, however, started gaining when it won the 200 freestyle relay, which Sequoyah didn’t compete in, and it jumped ahead with one event to go when the Lady Wildcats’ Allie Reiter finished second in the 100 breaststroke, with no Sequoyah swimmer to challenge her.
The Lady Chiefs began the day by finishing third in the 200 medley relay (1:49.44), and they had two place in the second heat of the 200 individual medley, which Carter placed 11th overall in 2:08.87 and Roy 15th in 2:21.29. Friedrichs was fourth in the 50 freestyle (23.99).
Rachel Renner also did her part, finishing fourth overall in Thursday’s diving competition, scoring 469.20 points.
“I’m so proud of our team and our coaches,” Carter said. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
The Creekview girls were 17th overall.
Michelle McCord, Emily Snyder, Anna Knowlton and Jordan Kendall won the B-heat of the 200 medley (1:53.57).
McCord also gave the Lady Grizzlies a lift by finishing seventh in the 200 IM (2:07.11) and 11th in the 100 backstroke (57.27). Snyder was fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.62) and 11th in the 200 IM (2:09.29).
