2018 FHSAA 3A State Championships
The time has come for the final stage of the 2018 Florida High School 3A State Series with the state championship meet beginning Friday, November 9.
Just like any state meet, every team is different than the year before. As some of the same battles are to be fought at this meet, new contenders and battles are also emerging. Here’s what to look out for at the 2018 Florida 3A state championships:
Girls
| 2017 Finish | Rank | School | Total | 200 Medley | 200 FR-R | 400 FR-R | Individuals |
| 1 | 1 | Creekside | 273 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 153 |
| 2 | 2 | Bartram Trail | 205 | 34 | 32 | 34 | 105 |
| 17 | 3 | Venice | 189 | 32 | 24 | 22 | 111 |
| 23 | 4 | Barron Collier | 160.5 | 14 | 34 | 8 | 104.5 |
| 3 | 5 | Chiles | 154 | — | 30 | 32 | 92 |
| 4 | 6 | Sunlake Land O’Lakes | 138 | 30 | 28 | 28 | 52 |
| 7 | 7 | Nease | 121 | 8 | 18 | 24 | 71 |
| 18 | 8 | Estero | 95 | 24 | — | 30 | 41 |
| 16 | 9 | Gulf Coast | 83 | 26 | 22 | — | 35 |
| 10 | 9 | Freedom | 83 | 18 | — | 18 | 47 |
The Creekside girls come into the meet as the defending state champions. This year, their chances are very high to make a repeat victory this year. Last year’s runner-up, District 3 and Region 1 rival Bartram Trail, also look to safely secure their second place standing when scoring the psych sheet.
When scoring the meet, highlighting all three relays was essential to show how important they are to a team’s total score. Creekside holds all three top spots in the relays. However, Bartram Trail is right behind them with close second place seed times.
| 200 Medley | 200 FR-R | 400 FR-R | |
| Creekside | 1:47.27 | 1:37.84 | 3:30.46 |
| Bartram Trail | 1:47.58 | 1:39.45 | 3:31.92 |
While only hundredths separate the two teams, the real difference between placing first or second is 6 points. It is crucial to maintain position in a relay as a simple out-touch at the finish could cost a team major points.
Bartram Trail’s Summer Stanfield, on the other hand, looks to be an big asset to her team as she could score a potential 40 points by sweeping both her individuals. It will be a race against the clock for Stanfield, as she is looking to secure her Automatic All-American cuts in the 200 IM and 100 fly.
Predicted to place third, the girls of Venice are looking much stronger this year than last year, as they finished 17th. Likewise with the fourth-place predicted girls of Barron Collier, who finished 23rd at last year’s meet. The girls of Barron Collier could also pose as a threat to Venice with a potential unpredicted improvement with their lower-ranked relays.
With the loss of a 200 medley relay, Chiles got bumped out of the top three and is predicted to place fifth. Coming behind them is Sunlake Land O’Lakes in sixth and Nease in seventh. However, both teams could change up the meet with their close battles in the top two of some individual events.
| 50 Free | 100 Free | |
| Ria Malhotra (Nease) | 1.) 23.66 | 1.) 51.98 |
| Chloe Grimme (Sunlake) | 2.) 23.91 | 4.) 52.34 |
| 100 Breast Seed | 2017 Finish | |
| Elise Ballash (Sunlake) | 1.) 1:04.11 | 7th (1:06.10) |
| Olivia Peoples (Nease) | 3.) 1:05.03 | 1st (1:03.94) |
Rounding out the potential top ten are Estero and a tie between Gulf Coast and Freedom.
Boys
| 2017 Finish | Rank | School | Total | 200 Medley | 200 FR-R | 400 FR-R | Individuals |
| 9 | 1 | Venice | 253.5 | 32 | 26 | 40 | 155.5 |
| 3 | 2 | Bartram Trail | 192 | 30 | 40 | 30 | 92 |
| 8 | 3 | Creekside | 191 | 28 | 30 | 34 | 99 |
| 7 | 4 | Barron Collier | 180 | 37 | — | 32 | 111 |
| 2 | 5 | Doral Academy | 159 | 37 | 34 | 28 | 60 |
| 1 | 6 | Chiles | 143 | 26 | 32 | 4 | 81 |
| 24 | 7 | Charlotte | 108.5 | 24 | 28 | — | 56.5 |
| 11 | 8 | Sebastian River | 86 | 2 | 6 | 24 | 54 |
| 39 | 9 | Seminole | 70 | — | — | 22 | 48 |
| 9 | 10 | Niceville | 49 | — | 8 | 14 | 27 |
As mentioned before, the teams this year are not the same teams from last year. After finishing ninth at last year’s meet, the boys of Venice look to control the top of the scores. Also in the top three is yet another battle between District 3 and Region 1 rivals Bartram Trail and Creekside.
Closely behind is Barron Collier, who is predicted to score only 10 points under the top three. Next in fifth is Doral Academy, who was last year’s runner-up. Coming in sixth is last year’s state champion, Chiles.
When mentioning battles, relays must also come in the mix. Among the top six schools, they also play musical chairs with seeded times and places in the psych sheet. With the tightly seeded psych sheet, one good race or bad race could affect the whole meet.
| Rank | 200 Medley Relay | 200 Free Relay | 400 Free Relay |
| 1 | Barron Collier (1:36.61) | Bartram Trail (1:27.39) | Venice (3:08.96) |
| 2 | Doral Academy (1:36.61) | Doral Academy (1:27.94) | Creekside (3:09.21) |
| 3 | Venice (1:37.03) | Chiles (1:28.32) | Barron Collier (3:09.26) |
| 4 | Bartram Trail (1:37.38) | Creekside (1:29.04) | Bartram Trail (3:11.05) |
| 5 | Creekside (1:38.26) | Charlotte (1:29.06) | Doral Academy (3:11.50) |
| 6 | Chiles (1:38.64) | Venice (1:30.01) | Chiles (15th seed) |
In the same way, there are other examples that also show the unpredictability in the fragile top three individual spots that could also affect the meet. What makes scoring the top three fragile is the big difference between first and second place. When scoring first and second, individual scoring goes 20-17.
| 500 Free | |
| 1.) John VanDeusen (Bartram Trail) | 4:29.91 |
| 2.) Arik Katz (Venice) | 4:31.06 |
| 3.) Adrian Aguilar (Doral Academy) | 4:32.28 |
| 100 Fly | |
| 1.) Adrian Aguilar (Doral Academy) | 50.19 |
| 2.) Mason Laur (Barron Collier) | 50.33 |
| 200 IM | |
| 1.) Mason Laur (Barron Collier) | 1:52.73 |
| 2.) John VanDeusen (Bartram Trail) | 1:52.77 |
Rounding out the top ten are schools who are once again proving that this year the teams are different, whether bigger and better or missing key players from years before. Charlotte, who finished 24th last year, is predicted to finish in seventh place. Also following major improvements are Sebastian River (11th in 2017), Seminole (39th in 2017), and Niceville (9th in 2017).
As the long journey these schools traveled comes to an end, no one can be prepared for what will happen at these state championships. Stay tuned as the meet begins Friday, November 9. Prelims begin at 9 am EST, finals being at 5:30 pm EST.