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Harpeth Hall Girls Go Big, but Baylor Leads Team Battle in Tennessee

2019 TISCA TENNESSEE HIGH SCHOOL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

  • Friday, February 8 – Saturday, February 9, 2019
  • Tracy Caulkins Competition Pool, Nashville, TN
  • Meet central
  • Psych sheets

Tennessee has a unique format for its high school swimming & diving state championship meet, where rather than the ‘first half’ of the meet being all of the prelims swims, Friday includes both prelims and finals racing for the first half of the meet lineup, with Saturday encompassing the other half.

The Baylor School is in familiar position atop the combined team standings. The school has only been beaten in the combined state standings once since 1990, and after the first day of competition (11 total events, they hold a 76.5-point lead over Maryville High School.

Maryville holds a 17-point lead over the McCallie school (and 31.5-point lead over Baylor School) in the boys’ meet, chasing what would be their first-ever team title for either gender.

Baylor currently sits atop the girls’ standings, 19 points ahead of Harpeth Hall: a school that’s home to, among others, US National Teamers Gretchen and Alex Walsh.

Top 5 Combined Team Scores After Day 1:

  1. Baylor School – 247.5
  2. Maryville High School – 171
  3. Hardin Valley Academy – 103
  4. Ensworth School – 92
  5. Science Hill High School – 73

Top 5 Boys’ Team Scores After Day 1:

  1. Maryville High School – 118
  2. McCallie School – 101
  3. Baylor School – 86.5
  4. Memphis University School – 59
  5. Ensworth School – 51

Top 5 Girls’ Team Scores After Day 1:

  1. Baylor School – 161
  2. Harpeth Hall – 142
  3. Girls Preparatory School – 70
  4. Hardin Valley Academy – 65
  5. Maryville High School – 53

Alex Walsh made her mark on the first day of competition, swimming a 1:45.05 to win the girls’ 200 free in a new state record. The old mark of 1:45.24 was also hers, having been set at the 2017 championship meet.

She also led off her team’s 200 medley relay in 24.13, and in spite of that, a 24.48 fly split from Alex Massey, and a 21.19 anchor from little sister Gretchen Walsh, Harpeth Hall was actually beaten by the Baylor School. That’s thanks inn large part to a 28.08 breaststroke split from Jewel Gordon for Baylor and a 23.98 fly split from Addison Smith.

Harpeth Hall also got individual wins from Ophelia Pilkinton in the 50 free (22.74), Ella Nelson in the 200 IM (1:57.80 – state record), and the aforementioned Gretchen Walsh in the 100 fly in a new state record of 52.36. That made for a clean sweep of the day’s individual swimming events for Harpeth Hall.

It was Baylor’s depth, though, that kept them in the lead. Extra top 8 scorers in both the 50 free and 100 fly, for example, were big for Baylor. The meet remains Baylor’s to lose, though one hiccup would open a huge door for Harpeth Hall.

On the boys’ side, the race of the day came in the boys’ 200 free. There, Jake Marcum and Will Jackson, both of McCallie School, battled to the final inch. Ultimately it was Marcum who made up exactly a second over the final 50 yards to win by .01 seconds: 1:38.13 to 1:38.14. Those two were just 4th and 5th, respectively, at last year’s state meet, but dropped 3 and 4 seconds, respectively, to pull away from the field.

Maryville took an early lead via a win in the boys’ 200 medley relay, where the team of Alex Mays, Eli Tate, Noah Salido, and Jackson Scott combined for a 1:32.01. Salido’s fly split of 22.37 was the difference-maker for that relay. That was their only win of day 1, though that was enough for a points lead.

Uncommitted Baylor junior Alex Borisov won the boys’ 200 IM in 1:50.40, which is a new lifetime best for him. His breaststroke splits, both on the IM and on Baylor’s medley relay, indicate that he’s due for a big swim in the 100 breaststroke on Saturday, though he’s only the 2nd seed. Maryville’s Alex Mays was 2nd in the 200 IM in 1:51.95.

Coleman Kredich from West High School in Knoxville, son of Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich, won his first individual state title with a 20.22 in the 50 free. Kredich is heading to Duke in the fall, where that 20.22 would already rank 3rd among Blue Devils undergrads this season.

The last individual winner of the day on the boys’ side was Spencer Jyawook from Independence High School. He won the 100 fly in 49.35 in what is his first Tennessee State Championship meet: he just moved into the state as a junior this season from Skyline High School in Michigan.

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Cheyenne
5 years ago

The Jake Marcum and Will Jackson race was something great to see.

SaintJoseph
5 years ago

Way to go Coleman! Proud of you.

High School Swim Parent
5 years ago

It’s time for Tennessee to adopt a new standard of scoring between private and public schools.

Swim Dad
Reply to  High School Swim Parent
5 years ago

Did you hear Maryville’s walkout? Born in the USA! Classic!

Shaqueefa
5 years ago

Boys score is incorrect. Maryville with 119 and McCallie with 102

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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