NORTH CHARLESTON – Despite not crowning an individual state champion, both Nation Ford and Fort Mill’s girls swim teams were strong enough to finish in the top 10 in the state.
Nation Ford finished fifth with 237 points, with Fort Mill right behind them with 205 points. The Wando girls won the 5A state title with 424 points.
The meet was held at the North Charleston Aquatic Center Saturday with only the girls’ teams competing from the 5A, 4A and 3A classifications. The same classifications for the boys will have the meet Monday also in North Charleston.
Nation Ford was led by Emily Eaton who collected four top five finishes with three fourth place finishes and a second-place finish as part of the 200-yard freestyle relay, which was the Falcons’ highest finish of the event coming in at 1:39.59 behind winner Spartanburg, who won in 1:39.35. The 200-yard freestyle team was made up of Eaton, Sydney Fink, Julia Pou and Ava Padgett.
Padgett had three top 10 finishes for the Falcons as did Mackenzie Riga. Sophia Bujoreanu, Fink and Pou each had two top 10 finishes.
Last year the Nation Ford girls finished eighth in the state and this year they improved on that by three spots. The Falcons brought 11 girls to the state meet and won the 5A State Sportsmanship Award.
“Our team has been building over the last couple years and we are getting better,” said Falcons’ head coach Lori Glasco. “I am excited for our team’s performance.”
For Fort Mill, they were led by Anna Kate Halligan, who had four top 10 finishes, and Olivia Corbi, who had three top 10 finishes. Kyndall Brown had two top 10 finishes for the Jackets, as did Ava Corbi and Jadyn Nelson. Mia Pogorzelski had a top 10 finish as well.
The highest finish Fort Mill had was two sixth place finishes. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Brown, Halligan and the Corbi sisters came in at 3:43 even in the last race of the meet, which was good enough for sixth. The highest individual finish for the Jackets was Olivia Corbi, who finished in sixth place in the 200-yard freestyle.
Last year, the Fort Mill girls finished fifth at the state meet and dropped one spot this year to sixth. Nevertheless, head coach Cindy Van Buskirk said she knows the future holds a lot of promise. Fort Mill brought 12 girls to the state meet.
“I am very proud of what we did,” Van Buskirk said. “We are young. We only have one senior. They were doing lifetime best swims. You can’t ask for any more than that.”
In the 4A meet, Catawba Ridge tied Indian Land for 15th place with 47 points. Rielly Lavery led the girls’ team with two top 10 finishes including a fifth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:26.40. The Copperheads brought 10 swimmers to the meet.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
