Winder-Barrow and Apalachee swimmers had standout performances at the Region 8-AAAA competition Saturday.
Mitchell Buttler won the region title for the WBHS boys in the 100 backstroke while Clara Moody was region champ in the 100 butterfly. Moody was also region runner-up in the 200 individual medley.
“Overall, the swimmers had a great meet,” said WBHS coach Jennifer Blevins. “I was disappointed that our whole team was not there because I know that the team is better than the scores showed at the end.”
The Apalachee High School swim teams were both fifth overall.
“We are very proud of our performance at the region meet this past Saturday,” AHS coach Laura Rodas said. “We have two more chances to get those qualifying times for state, and we remain optimistic that it will happen.
Rodas said Torrie Heller had a personal record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:13.79. Heller was 11th overall. Delana Vandergriff knocked five seconds off her 100 free time. Joe Allen (who placed sixth overall for boys) knocked his time in the 100 breaststroke from a 1:13.06 to a 1:10.49.
The WBHS girls were sixth overall while the boys were also sixth. As a program, WBHS was seventh.
Dakotah Kay was Winder-Barrow’s lone middle school representative and he won region in the 100 breaststroke and finished third in the 50 freestyle. His performances led to an overall second place finish in the middle school division.
“Three of our top swimmers were not there and we lost a large number of points due to that,” Blevins said. “Quinn McDaniels was sick, Alex Hentenaar was at the state band auditions and Ian Hentenaar had a big club swim meet. All we can do is make sure that every swimmer present swims great races and performs their best. Luckily, there is always next year and hopefully we will have everyone available and we can really let the region know who we are. I am proud of all of our swimmers and of the Apalachee swimmers. They also had a great meet.”
Personal records set for WBHS at region included:
•Clara Moody, 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly
•Ryan Miller, 50 free
•Ryan Nowakowski, 50 free and 100 free
•Nelson Lofton, 50 free
•Forest Nelson, 50 free and 100 free
•Josiah Bennett, 50 free and 100 free
•Katie Ginsberg, 50 free and 100 free
•Anna Dean, 100 free
•Ashley Cook, 100 free
•Dakotah Kay, 100 breaststroke
The WBHS swim team will compete at the University of Georgia in Athens Saturday while AHS swims against Salem in Conyers.
