COLUMBIA- Sometimes a season comes down to one event.
For Fort Mill and Eastside high schools that event was the 400-yard freestyle relay. That event won by the Jackets secured another state championship for Fort Mill in the pool.
Fort Mill won the event in 3:36.22, with Eastside coming in second at 3:36.46. Fort Mill’s Delaney Michael, Emma Michael, Haruka Ono and Lila Hadley made up the relay team. Fort Mill scored 491.5 points with Eastside scoring 472 points. This was state team title No. 46 for the Fort Mill High athletic department.
“I knew going in, it was going to be a battle,” said Fort Mill head coach Cindy Van Buskirk, who claimed her fifth state swim championship tying her for second with former boys’ tennis head coach Willie Ware for most state titles in school history as a head coach. “I knew all season. I knew we had a shot because we are very strong in the breaststroke. We were strong in scoring positions in a lot of places. I knew we had to focus. I knew we were strong. I kept telling the girls to focus. I told them to go swim for your team and they did.”
Emma Michael would have a huge night with four state titles, two individual and two relay.
“Four gold medals,” Van Buskirk said. “That is very rare that happens. She has been working hard in practice.”
Fort Mill started off winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1:46. The team was made up of Ono, Joy Kim, Julia Corbi and Emma Michael.
Emma Michael didn’t have much of a break as she was right back in the pool for the 200-yard freestyle winning in 1:54, edging second place by 0.16.
It isn’t unusual for swimmers to participate in a relay and then turn around and do an individual event.
“I was used to doing it,” Emma Michael said. “I think that helped.”
Corbi almost kept the winning for the Jackets going finishing second in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:07 with Ono finishing third in 2:08.
Emma Michael kept Fort Mill in good position winning her second individual event in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:09.
Fort Mill continued to have good finishes but was 3.5 points behind Eastside heading into the final three events.
Ono kept the Jackets in the fight with a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:03, about a second behind the winner.
Copperheads finish second 4A girls state championship
The Catawba Ridge Copperheads were edged for a 4A state swim championship by just three points.
Riverside High School scored 331 points to win the title, with the Copperheads coming in second with 328 points.
“This was our goal, the whole season, to make the podium at state,” said Copperheads head coach Tony Murray. “We weren’t focused on the dual meets. We were focused on the end of the season, putting big points on the board.”
Nation Ford started strong winning the state championship in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:49. The team was made up of Brittany Fink, Abby Garcia, Kenna Zimmerly and Madeline Gladfelter. Catawba Ridge was second in 1:49.51.
The Copperheads’ Bella Gload was second in the 50-yard freestyle in 23:99, just 0.37 out of first.
Catawba Ridge’s Amelia Meehan finished second in the 100-yard freestyle in 52.08, just 0.72 out of first. Gload finished fourth in 54.03 just missing the podium.
The Copperheads got a breakthrough win in the 200-yard freestyle relay winning in 1:39.83, 0.15 seconds ahead of second place Riverside. The relay team was made up of Caroline Becker, Emma Russell, Meehan and Gload.
Meehan came back after the event and defended her 100-yard backstroke title winning the event in 55.98. Zimmerly for Nation Ford was second in 58.30.
“I was excited for it,” Meehan said. “It gets harder at the end of the meet, but I just trusted my training.”
Nation Ford finished fourth with 277 points behind Lucy Beckham which had 317 points.
“The girls dropped times and had some of their best times,” said Nation Ford head coach Alyssa McAllister. “We have a lot of younger girls. We are in a transition period. We have a lot of girls coming back.”
The 4A and 5A boys state swim championships will be held back in Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
