Saints' Boys, Girls Grab Second Place at Class 1A, District 5 Swim Meet
Thu. October 25, 2012 at 4:18 a.m. | By Solange Reyner
Santa Fe Catholic's Derek Peeples competes in the boys 200-yard freestyle event during the Class 1A, District 5 swim meet at Rowdy Gaines pool. (Photo by ERNST PETERS | THE LEDGER )
By SOLANGE REYNER
THE LEDGER
LAKELAND | All Saints' Academy placed second for both the boys and girls in the Class 1A, District 5 swim meet Wednesday night at Rowdy Gaines Pool, ending the evening as the top Polk County finisher behind strong performances, and plenty of personal bests, by more than a handful of swimmers.
Lake Placid came in first for boys and girls with a total of 852 points and Oasis Christian, with only 12 swimmers, claimed third for the girls side 318 points.
All Saints had 358 points for the girls and 417 for the boys.
The top eight swimmers in each individual event and the top eight relay teams advance to regionals, which takes place on Nov. 1 in Titusville at the YMCA Family Aquatic Center. Prelims are at 10 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m.
David Wong led the charge for the All Saints' boys team, finishing first in the 100 fly (56.48) and 200 IM (2:07.39). He also helped the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay team snag first.
"The team has a lot of momentum going into regionals and I think it's going to be a good finish to a pretty good season," said Wong, a sophomore.
The girls team rebounded from a poor showing at the county meet to claim second.
"A lot of girls were sick going into county so we thought Lakeland Christian and Oasis Christian were going to beat us," All Saints coach Stacy Walsh said.
That didn't happen Wednesday, mostly because of a lot of top eight finishes, Walsh said.
The meet manager would not give The Ledger full results as mandated by the FHSAA.
Anna Henricks, the little sister of Aaron Henricks, a state qualifier last season as a senior, had two top three finishes for All Saints. She placed second in the 200 IM (2:41.31) behind Oasis Christian's Rebekah Howard (2:22.64) and third in the 100 back (1:09.43). Chloe Wineinger from Lakeland Christian got second place in that event.
Howard also claimed first in the 100 breast (1:11.34), out-touching sister Hannah by about two seconds for the victory. Lakeland Christian's Lymaries Velez came in third.
Hannah won the 100 fly, though, to claim her own district title.
"The 100 fly felt good. It was nice to be able to win districts and it's good to go into regionals with a personal best," said Hannah Howard, a freshman. "I didn't race the 100 fly last year but I think I have a better chance making it to states in that event so we decided to go with it this season."
The Howard sisters also teamed up with Ashlyn Vandendriessche and Laurel Moore to win the 200 free relay.
Lakeland Christian had top place finishes in two events and two relays. Carson Knox won the 100 back (1:00.32) ahead of All Saints' Nicholas Wegman and Sarah Mora snagged the 50 freestyle race in 27.69 seconds. Teammate Stephanie Powers placed third in that event.
Santa Fe Catholic's Derek Peeples and Rachel Ringley had solid nights, too, finishing first in the 200 and 100 free. Ringley, a sophomore, swam the 200 in 2:09.06 and Peeples in 1:53.99. In the 100, Ringley posted a 59.63 and Peeples 52 seconds.
Ean Ornsby of Frostproof took the 500 in 5:29.27 and Moore of Oasis claimed the girls' title in 6:03.50.
