Will Heck Sets State Record as Bolles Sweeps FHSAA 1A State Championships

2020 FHSAA 1A Swimming and Diving Championships

• November 15th, 2020
• Sailfish Splashpark Aquatic Athletics Center
• Results on Meet Mobile: ” 2020 FHSAA Swimming & Diving Championship-1A”
• Full Results
• All State Series Info

Originally scheduled to take place on Friday, the Class 1A Swimming and Diving State Championships were rescheduled to Sunday due to the presence of Tropical Storm Eta in the northern part of Florida. Despite the change of date, Bolles School still managed to sweep both sides of the meet to continue their historic winning streak.

Top 5 Girls Teams

1. Bolles
2. Saint Andrew’s
3. Cutler Bay
4. PK Yonge
5. King’s Academy

St. Andrew’s kicked off the meet with a win over Bolles in the 200 medley relay. The school won the race by over a second, finishing in 1:43.35.

The 200 free featured Shorecrest’s Sarah Lankford, who finished just 6th a year ago, winning her first state title. A junior, Lankford entered finals tied for the 7th seed. She won the event with a time of 1:49.21, just .04 ahead of runner-up Erin Miller.

Winning both the 200 IM and the 500 free was Cardinal Mooney sophomore Michaela Mattes. After finishing second in the event last year, Mattes moved up to take the top spot with a time of 2:01.10. She later added her second straight title in the 500 free, winning the event by almost seven seconds with a time of 4:47.19.

The second multiple event winner on the day was sophomore Erika Pelaez. Her first title came in the 50 free, where she led the field with a time of 22.52, just .3 off of the state record set by Alexis Mulvihill a week ago. Her second win came in the 100 free, where she was the only athlete to finish under 50 seconds in the event. She finished in 49.47. This is the second straight year in which she has won both events at the state championships.

Winning the 1-meter diving event for the second straight year was Berkeley Prep’s Amy Wotovich. She finished with a score of 420.65.

A sophomore at St. Andrew’s, Aspen Gersper won both the 100 fly and 100 back after her highest finish being fifth last year. In the 100 fly she beat Berkeley’s Mabry Bishop, finishing in 54.51. Later in the meet, she added a first in the 100 back, winning in 54.28.

In the 200 free relay, Bolles took home their first win of the meet. Leading St. Andrew’s by over a second, Bolles finished in 1:33.01.

The 100 breast was won by Marcela Scaramuzza in near record-setting time. Touching in 1:01.41, the junior was less than half a second off of Isabel Ivey‘s state record.

Bolles finished off the girl’s meet with a win in the 400 free relay, beating out St. Andrew’s to finish in 3:23.19.

Top 5 Boys Teams

1. Bolles – 501
2. King’s Academy – 222
3. Saint Andrew’s – 184
4. Berkeley – 174
5. Bishop Verot – 140

Bolles started the meet off strong, winning the 200 medley relay over two seconds ahead of runner-up King’s Academy. Bolles finished in 1:30.72.

Bolles continued their winning streak into the 200 free, with junior Andres Dupont Cabrera winning with a time of 1:35.60. Cabrera led the field by a wide margin, with runner up Tyler Roberton finishing three seconds back in 1:38.18. Cabrera was less than a second off of the state record in the event, a 1:34.69 set in 2013 by Caeleb Dressel.

Cabrera and Roberton would finish first and second again in the 100 free later in the meet. Cabrera once again swam to the fastest time touching in 44.09 while Roberton finished in 44.76. The pair were the only athletes to swim under 45.0 in the event.

King’s Academy took their first win of the meet in the 200 IM, with junior Joshua Zuchowski leading the field. Zuchowski finished in 1:46.85, just . 54 off of the state record in the event. The 200 IM state record, one of the oldest records in the state, stands at 1:46.31 from 2004.

Zuchowski would return later to take a second state title, this time in the 100 back. He won the event by over three seconds, touching first in 47.45. Zuchowski holds multiple National Age Group records in the 13-14 age group.

In the 50 free, Julian Smith of Episcopal finished with the top time of 20.56. After his highest finish being third at the state championship meet a year ago, Smith switched into the 50 free this season. It was a very close race, with King’s Academy’s Noah Sipowski finishing .01 behind him and St. Andrew’s Ryan Nordheim less than .10 behind him in third. Tiago Pereira, who held the top seed of 20.26 after prelims, was disqualified in finals.

On the diving board the top spot went to Blakeman Shaw, a senior at Westminister. He finished with a score of 488.00.

Finishing first in the 100 fly was Saint Andrew’s senior Tiago Pereira. After finishing fifth a year ago in 49.73, he came back this year to drop over two seconds and win the event in 47.22.

Winning the 500 free for the second straight year was Bishop Verot senior and Navy commit Conor Cranfield. Cranfield won the event by over two seconds, finishing in 4:26.27.

Continuing their relay dominance, Bolles won the 200 free relay by almost two seconds. The team of Cabrera, Ansen Meyer, William Heck, and Adnan Atwan combined to finish with a time of 1:21.96. They beat out the Saint Andrew’s relay which featured a huge leadoff swim of 20.03 from Tiago Pereira.

After swimming the third leg of Bolles’ state champion relay, Heck returned to swim the fastest time in the 100 breast. In prelims of the event, Heck swam to a 53.73, shattering the previous record set by Paul DeGrado in 2018. In finals he once again swam under the previous record, although slightly slower than he was in prelims, touching in 54.20 to win the event. Heck is only a sophomore, so he will have two more years to further lower his record.

Bolles finished the meet with another relay win, with Cabrera being joined by Seth Tolentino, Adnan Atwan, and Tomohiro Nozaki to finish with the top time. They won the event in 3:02.73.