District 7
Girls
1. Land O’ Lakes – Sunlake – 413
2. Tarpon Springs – 339
3. St. Petersburg – Lakewood – 199
4. Dunedin – 190
5. New Port Richey – River Ridge – 185
Sophomore Kara Wilkins led the girls from Sunlake High to their second-straight 2A District 7 Championship, though this one was by a slightly-narrower margin than last year’s rout.
Wilkins remains perfect in her high school career at the District level both in individuals and relay events. She started the meet as the backstroke lead-off leg on Sunlake’s 200 medley relay, and her 28.53 split was 6 seconds faster than anybody else in the field. That was about the final margin of victory as well for her team of Nicole Koutras, Amanda Albrecht, and Katie Haqq, ahead of runners-up Tarpon Spring (2:10.93).
Wilkins then won the girls’ 100 fly by six seconds in 1:00.50, was part of Sunlake’s winning 200 free relay with a 25.22 anchor, and finished the meet with a 1:00.17 in the 100 backstroke (to win by almost 13 seconds).
While those times generally weren’t as good as she was at the district level last year, without much competition for a spot into the regional level, it’s hard to hold those results against any kind of a historic standard.
Also swimming well out of the district was Tarpon Springs sophomore MacKenzie Stumpf, who won the girls’ 200 IM in 2:14.85 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.94.
Boys
1. St. Petersburg – Lakewood – 450
2. Land O’ Lakes – Sunlake – 262
3. Gulfport – Boca Ciega – 243
4. New Port RIchey – River Ridge – 218
5. Tarpon Springs – 211
The Lakewood boys earned their victory largely on the backs of their underclassmen, including a pair of impressive freshman Ethan Long and Connell Murch.
The two combined for three individual wins over the course of the meet, starting with a two-second Long win in the boys’ 200 free: the first individual event of the meet.
His win would set the Spartans on course for a dominating victory, and he would be supported by Murch’s wins in the 100 fly in 56.15 and the 100 back in 57.99.
The two also paired up to win both the 200 medley and 200 free relays for Lakewood, both by dominant margins
The team also got a boost from runner-up finishes by Jonathan Long in both the 50 free (22.28) and 100 free (48.51). In both cases, he finished behind standout Rigewood senior Emir Muratovic, who was 21.34 in the 50 and 46.82 in the 100.
Muratovic is the favorite to win both sprint events at this year’s Class 2A Region 3 Championship meet.
District 8
Girls
1. Tampa – Holy Names – 702
2. Tampa – Robinson – 297
3. Tampa – Jefferson – 190
4. Lake Wales – 171
5. Riverview – Spoto – 166
The Holy Names girls were absolutely dominant in this district, and with 702 points had one of the highest district point totals in the state.
The team was led by the Kirkpatrick sisters, who combined for 3 individual event wins and one runner-up finish.
First, they began with a relay, where with junior Olivia Kirkpatrick on the backstroke leg, Alex Nuyianes swimming breaststroke, freshman Bella Kirkpatrick on fly, and Lara Lontoc on free, they swam to a 1:55.94 – over nine seconds better than Robinson’s runner-up relay.
Next up came the freshman Bella in the girls’ 200 free, where she swam a 1:58.97 for 2nd-place. That was the only race of the meet that the Holy Names girls didn’t win, with Maureen Moore from Spoto taking top honors in 1:55.99.
Olivia Kirkpatrick then won the 50 free in 25.63 – part of a 1-2-3-4 finish for Holy Names.
Bella Kirkpatrick picked up the women’s 100 fly title in 1:01.16, getting a small bit of payback over Moore, who was 2nd in that race in 1:01.97.
Olivia won again in the 100 backstroke with a 1:03.88, and the two combined again, this time with Lontoc and Julia Cogdill, to win the 400 free relay in 3:53.15 – 46-seconds better than Lake Wales.
The team also racked up huge points with four out of the district’s five divers – including a 1-2 finish from 8th-graders Sophia Ragano and Megan Devaney.
Boys
1. Tampa – Jesuit – 622
2. Riverview – Spoto – 314
3. Tampa – Robinson – 280
4. Tampa – Middleton – 186
5. Lake Wales – 166
The Jesuit boys weren’t quite as dominant as their counterparts at Holy Names (the two programs train and travel together), but still almost doubled-up second-place Spoto.
Spoto, however, drew first blood by winning a very competitive 200 medley relay in 1:43.77, thanks to a 22.22, come-from-behind anchor from senior Tyler Graves. That’s a veteran Spoto relay with two juniors and two seniors.
Spoto would win again in the 400 free relay, but simply didn’t have the depth to keep up with Jesuit in the long-term.
An example is the men’s 200 IM, where Jesuit senior Austin Sellers won in 2:00.78, and Jesuit took four out of the top five spots. Spoto, meanwhile, had only one entry in that race, and he was 9th (beating out only a DQ).
Sellers came back again and won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 58.53, ahead of Graves’ 59.79. Though that’s an event where Spoto is very good (they went 2-3, with another senior Josh Soto touching 3rd), they were still outscored by Jesuit who went 1-4-5-6.
District 9
Girls
1. Englewood – Lemon Bay – 496
2. Sebring – 366
3. Wauchula – Hardee – 292.5
4. Bradenton – Bayshore – 234
5. Avon Park – 218.5
The Lemon Bay girls had a rough start to the meet, with a team that was disqualified in the opening 200 medley relay, and while that will cost them as they try to repeat their Region 3 top-four finish from last year, the team was unphased at this meet.
They came back one race later and went 1-2-3 in the girls’ 200 freestyle, led by Louisville commit Sophie Cattermole.
She swam a 1:51.97, and later went a 4:57.09 to win the girls’ 500 yard free as well.
So far ahead of the field was Cattermole at this meet that the first 400 yards of her 500 free would’ve taken second in the girls’ 400 free relay. The only team that would’ve beaten that time was Cattermole’s own Lemon Bay relay, who were a 3:54.91. The splits included Cattermole (53.46), Abby Shea (1:02.06), Sarah Frantz (59.93), and Hunter Scott (59.46).
Boys
1. Sebring – 408
2. Englewood – Lemon Bay – 365
3. Avon Park – 337
4. Wauchula – 250
5. Bradenton – Southeast
The boys’ District 9 meet was the most competitive in Region 3, and Sebring came out on top thanks in part to two relay wins.
Individually, they were led by Tevin Bullard, who took a tough win in the 100 free in 52.44, just beating out Hardee’s Cody Spencer (52.72) and Southeast’s Patrick Healy (53.70).
Sebring also got two individual wins from Griffin Chynoweth in both the 200 IM (2:14.82) and the 100 breaststroke (1:07.91).