District 10
1. Estero – 471
2. Cape Coral – 467
3. Naples – 233
4. Port Charlotte – 223.5
5. Naples – Lely – 203
Based on just the results of the meet-opening 200 medley relay, this meet looked like it could have been a blowout, as Estero High swam a 1:54.48 that was nearly eight seconds faster than runners-up Naples.
But as things can often go in the smaller-school classes in a state like Florida, scores can swing wildly for teams that have to pick-and-choose where to use their bullets, and that’s exactly what the case was here.
Estero and Cape Coral set the tone in the 200 free relay, where the two teams combined to take all of the top 7 spots, led by Estero junior Kaitlyn Hauser in 1:54.34. Hauser, who was 3rd at last year’s state meet, should melt several seconds off of that time in the next two weeks.
Estero won again in the 200 IM, where Bean Faunce swam a 2:13.17, followed by sophomore Paige Madden winning the 50 free in 25.19.
Cape Coral fought back on the women’s 1-meter, where Megan Galbreth and Rachael Masters took 1st and 3rd, and with four divers to just one for Estero, the score swung big in that race. Coming out of the break, however, another win from Estero’s Faunce, in the 100 fly in 59.34, took some of those points back.
Cape Coral again fought back with a 1-2 finish in the girls’ 100 free, with Sarah Dostie winning in 54.69 and Kasey Swartley placing 2nd in 55.41. Those two were well ahead of Estero freshmen Shelby Jacobson (58.89) and Jessica Walsh (58.89) – though those two leave a bright future for Estero.
Another 1-2 finish from Cape Coral in the 500 free, including a 5:02.04 from Savannah Bowser, plus a 4th-place, took the Seahawks even closer.
Just as the 200 medley was lopsided toward Estero, Cape Coral took the 200 free relay by five-and-a-half seconds to negate that scoring.
The backstroke and breaststroke races were basically a wash, with Estero’s Danilea Jordan winning the 100 back in 58.10 and Cape Coral’s Megan Rissler winning the 100 breast in 1:13.12, which left the meet down to the 400 free relay.
With these two teams clearly ahead of the rest of the district, the winner of the final 400 free relay was to be the district champion. While Estero stacked their 200 medley, and Cape Coral stacked their 200 free relay, both teams had their best on-hand for the 400 free relay.
Even though Cape Coral went 1-2 in the 400 free relay, Estero was able to win the 400 free relay in 3:38.31, and Cape Coral took 2nd in 3:40.75, meaning the title went to Estero for the second-straight season since Florida reformatted their classifications.
Boys
1. Cape Coral – 456
2. Naples – 354
3. Estero – 318
4. Naples – Lely – 202.5
5. Fort Myers – Cypress Lake – 173
The Cape Coral boys had a little more of a comfortable margin than their girls’ team did, including a sweep of all three relays.
Among the individual winners for the Seahawks were Jason Tillotson, who took the 200 IM in 2:00.35, senior Collan Herby, who won the 100 fly in 54.03, and junior Cory Klemm, who won the 100 breaststroke in 59.50.
For the runners-up from Naples, the star of the day was junior Shawn Lemarie. He swam a 1:44.98 in the 200 yard free and a 4:44.09 in the 500 yard free, both of which resulted in victories. Lemarie was 2nd in the state last year in the 500 free – just .07 seconds behind Nicolas Medina from American Heritage High. Lemarie is off to a good start toward bringing home the victory this season.
Medina swims in district 11, and was a 4:48.00 to win there, giving Lemarie the top seed for next weekends regional championships.
District 11
Girls
1. Riviera Beach – Suncoast – 450
2. Fort Pierce – Lincoln Park – 336.5
3. Plantation – American Heritage – 325.5
4. Pompano Beach – 270
5. Cardinal Gibbons – 231
The Suncoast girls won the district on the strength of three individual wins, including a 59.07 in the 100 yard backstroke from Fabiana Ingram.
The individual star of the show, however, was American Heritage sophomore Catharine Cooper. who won both the 100 free (52.38) and the 50 free (24.22). That 100 free time is already faster than Cooper was to win the B-Final at last year’s 2A State Championship meet.
Boys
1. Plantation – American Heritage – 534.5
2. Riviera Beach – Suncoast – 336
3. Fort Pierce – Lincoln Park – 316
4. Pompano Beach – 291
5. Cardinal Gibbons – 162
The American Heritage boys won 8 out of 12 events, including a win in the boys’ 200 fly for Taylor Eaddy in 51.71. Aside from that 100 fly, Eaddy swam three relays, and in the Florida High School system, those are the four races he’ll advance to the regional level in (some states allow athletes to change events when state qualifying is based on a time standard rather than a placing). All three of those relays were American Heritage victories.
One of the few not from American Heritage to win a race was senior Fisher Crist from Cardinal Gibbons. He topped the 50 free in 21.60, a new lifetime best as far as we can tell. Aside from Eaddy’s 21.12 medley-relay anchor, Crist’s was the fastest 50 free of the meet on a relay or flat start.
District 12
Girls
1. Gullier Prep – 535.5
2. Miami – Doral – 515.5
3. Miami – St. Brendan – 242
4. Key West – 182
5. Archbishop McCarthy – 178
District 12, one of the best districts in Class 2A, was every bit as close as the final score indicated, and Gulliver Prep set the tone early by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:52.25 ahead of Doral’s 1:54.78. That lead would grow as Gulliver Prep would win 8 out of the first 9 events at the meet, and while Doral would claw their way back into the meet late, the lead was too large by then.
The first two individual wins were the best times for the Raiders in that run: Niki Urquidi won the 200 free in 1:54.71, and Kelly Fertel won the 200 IM in 2:06.75 – almost seven seconds faster than her next-closest competitor. Those two would each win races later in the meet, when Urquidi won the 500 free in 5:05.84 (part of a 1-2-3-4 Gullver Prep finish); and Fertel won the 100 breaststroke by almost five seconds in 1:05.93.
While Fertel’s time in that 100 breaststroke was dominant. Doral still made up points there by taking the 2-3-4 positions in the race.
Boys
1. Gulliver Prep – 427.5
2. Miami – Doral – 414
3. Key West – 254
4. Archbishop McCarthy – 241.5
5. Miami – St. Brendan – 194
Indicative of how good of a battle this meet was, in the meet-opening 200 medley relay, Doral beat Gulliver Prep by just half-a-second (1:41.25-1:41.70), and in the meet-closing 400 free relay, Gulliver Prep beat Doral by about the same margin (3:16.32-3;16.89).
In between, the 200 free relay was a hair more lopsided, with Gulliver Prep winning in 1:30.10 and Doral taking 2nd in 1:31.98. The ability to put together that third relay showed the depth that helped Gulliver Prep to a second-straight District 12 title. The 13.5 point margin is significantly smaller than the 157 by which they won last year.
St. Brendan had good performances in a 5th-place team finish. Zuhayr Pigot was impressive in wins in the 100 fly (50.64) and the 100 free (47.38). His senior teammate Wayne Denswil won the boys’ 200 IM in 1:57.08 and the boys’ 100 breaststroke in 58.76.