COLUMBIA – Despite winning multiple individual races and a relay race, the Fort Mill boys’ swim team finished second in the 5A Division II state championship meet.
Eastside scored 645 points to win the state title, as Fort Mill had 452.5 points for second place. Riverside was third with 339 points, while Nation Ford was fourth with 266.5 points. Catawba Ridge boys finished ninth with 127 points.
“We did everything possible,” said Fort Mill head coach Cindy Van Buskirk. “We had huge wins and huge drops in times. I am thrilled and I am proud of them.”
Van Buskirk said despite Fort Mill’s wins, Eastside was able to field up to four swimmers in a lot of events, as was Fort Mill. However, those swimmers in a lot of cases were older and more experienced than Fort Mill’s swimmers.
Fort Mill started off with the 200-yard medley relay win in 1:32.75 like the girls did on Thursday. Swimming for the Jackets were Turner Wiand, Dominic Impens, Parker Hightower, and Tate Preston as they set a new state record in the event.
Wiand was able to win the 50-yard freestyle in 21.39 for his second title of the day.
Wiand said what makes a good 50-free is your turns and stroke rate. He said he wasn’t nervous.
“I was excited,” he said. “I wanted to win.”
He wasn’t done winning as he came back to win the 100-yard backstroke in 49.52 for title number three of the meet.
The winning continued for Fort Mill as Impens won the 100-yard freestyle in 45.65 for his second title of the meet. Impens said he wasn’t nervous, but was able to control his nerves before the race.
“I just wanted to do it for the team,” he said.
He would also win another state title in the 100-yard breaststroke in 55.85.
Nation Ford also came away with state champions, their first since 2020. The Falcons had strong swims with a second-place finish by Gavin Charcalla in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.99, just 0.21 out of first. He would come back later in the meet to win the longest race in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:41.60. Charcalla said he knew he got off to a slow start in the 200, so he made sure that didn’t happen in the 500. He won by 0.18 seconds.
“You have to have rigorous training,” he said. “I always like to split it into portions. I knew I needed to be out faster. I picked it up as much as I could.”
After a short break, Nation Ford’s Gray Reiger won the 100-yard butterfly in 51.17 to give the Falcons a state champion. Reiger had some extra motivation.
“I wanted to win,” he said. “My brother won a state title in 2019 and I always thought his ring was cool. I wanted to get a ring.”
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
