Eastside boys made history and the Buchholz girls earned their tenth consecutive team title at the Rob Ramirez City High School Swim and Dive Championships at Northeast Pool on Saturday morning.
Eastside’s boys team overwhelmed the competition, claiming the top spot in each of the 17 swimming events.
“One of our goals going into the meet was a clean sweep of the swimming events,” said Eastside coach Jon Allen. “We were second in state [2A] last year and I didn’t know how much we could improve. We lost one of our top swimmers, but we gained so much depth this year which is our strong suit. As you saw today, we have some pretty fast swimmers from top to bottom. I’ve been coaching a long time, and I don’t think there has ever been a clean sweep of the races at the city meet.”
One of the fastest of the Rams’ swimmers was Eric Gong. The junior won the 200-yard individual medley in 2 minutes,1.79 seconds and capped it off with another win in the 100-yard freestyle in 48.98. Both events were not his primary events, but he did what was best for the team.
“The 200 IM was not my best event, but I did what the team needed me to do,” said Gong, who finished 11th in the 200 IM at state last year. “The 100 meter was a bit slow, but it got me the win. We thought those events were ones I could earn points for the team, so I swam those. It was good.”
Eastside’s total of 579 points easily outdistanced second-place Buchholz’s 353. P.K. Yonge finished third with 297 points and GHS fourth with 226.
The Bobcats girls welcomed back head coach John Hulvey who took last year off, with another win. Their 443 points were enough to pull off the victory over Gainesville’s 414.
“We had to dig deep as we don’t have as many swimmers as we had in the past,” said Hulvey. “We definitely had to play the cards right and overcome having no divers to offset GHS’ four divers, so we had to get a little creative.”
GHS’s Lilah Kage, Emma Stripling, Ashley Gruber and Grace Whitley swept the top four spots in the 1-meter diving event to give the Canes the early lead. GHS suffered a setback in the first individual event, the 200-yard freestyle, when heavy favorite and defending 3A state 200-yard freestyle champion Ava Fuller was disqualified after a false start.
The Bobcats picked up wins in the 50 freestyle from Emily Zhou, the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke from Peyton Brooks and the 200 free relay to hold off the Canes.
Brooks’ 100 backstroke was particularly impressive as she eclipsed her state time from last year with a 57.89 to take the win.
“I definitely didn’t expect that [time in the 100 backstroke], but I knew I could do it,” said Brooks, a sophomore, who finished 11th in 4A last year with a 57.94. “I really want to get into the ‘A’ final this year and get onto the podium. I think it’s possible.”
Area teams will return to the regular season competition in the next few weeks before they gear up for the FHSAA state finals series beginning Oct. 22 with the 3A and 4A school district competitions. The following week, the 1A and 2A district competitions begin.
