Area swimmers enter regional meets
As area swimmers prepare for regional competition, which gets underway across the state today, perhaps few teams enter the pool with the buzz that has enveloped the Niceville girls’ team.
Two weeks ago the Eagles successfully defended their Okaloosa County title by taking a second-straight crown in Destin. Then, just last weekend, the Niceville girls captured the District 1-2A title and saw swimmers in 11 different individual events and three different relays advance to today’s Region 1-2A meet at Cecil Aquatic Center in Jacksonville.
“It’s a confidence booster,” Eagles’ coach Kathy Ritacco said. “They’ve worked very hard. They know the reality of it, we prepare for one meet at a time and they have continued with that focus.
“We’re going to continue to do what has worked for us,” Ritacco added. “They’re ready to go and test it and see how far they can go.”
Today’s meet begins with a 7:30 a.m. warm-up before swimming prelims get underway at 9 a.m. Finals are set for 5:30 p.m. In between, the diving meet will take place at noon, making for yet another long day at the pool.
Niceville, Fort Walton Beach, Choctawhatchee and Navarre will each have swimmers competing at today’s meet, while in Class A, Rocky Bayou Christian’s Suzi Sober (50 free, 100 free), Elizabeth Sober (50 free, 100 free) and Colin Frazier (100 free) will look to advance to state out of the Region 1-A meet, which takes place at Jacksonville Bolles.
Leading a large Niceville contingent will be Haley McWilliams, who is currently seeded third in the 500 free and fifth in the 200 free. Alex Messmore (200 free, 500 free), Milbrey Parke (200 IM, 100 breast), Alex Birmingham (200 IM, 100 butterfly) and Rachel Gold (100 butterfly, 100 free) also advanced in multiple individual events for the Eagles.
Phoebe Anders will swim in the 100 back. Also advancing for Niceville were its 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free relay teams.
On the boys’ side, Niceville will send its 200 medley relay as well as Chaz Brecheler (200 IM, 500 free), Cody McWilliams (500 free), Matt Markwardt (200 IM, 100 breast), Chase Turner (100 back) and Bradley Ringler (100 back).
Fort Walton Beach’s boys’ team finished third at district and will send seven different individuals to today’s meet, as will its girls’ team.
For the boys, Levi Wilke (200 free, 500 free), Frank Bruechner (200 IM, 100 free) and Cody Haeusler (50 free, 100 free) will swim in multiple individual events while Nicholas Miller (100 back) and Justin Hunt (100 breast) will also swim in individual events. The Vikings’ 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free relays also moved on.
“We’ve got a tough region,” Fort Walton Beach coach Pam Braseth said. “They have to be on, especially on the relays. It can’t be two people on and two people off, it’s got to be all four people firing on all cylinders twice a day. It’s the same thing on the individual events, they’ve got to be up and they’ve got to do it twice if they want to move on.”
Only the top eight individual finishers from each region are eligible to advance to the state meet and only the top 16 times in each relay event are able to move on, as well.
Navarre will send Taylor Day (50 free), Cat Bower (100 free, 100 breast) and Teresa Parsons (500 free) as well as its 200 free relay from its girls’ team while Chris Hodge (200 IM), Chandler Moorer (50 free) and Forrest Kieffer (100 back) advanced from its boys team. The Raiders’ 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free relay teams also advanced to today’s boys’ meet.
Choctawhatchee will send Olivia Strom (200 free, 500 free), Amelia Strom (200 IM, 100 breast) and Emma Strom (100 butterfly, 100 back) as well as its 400 free relay to today’s girls meet. The Indians’ boys’ 400 free relay team will also move on.
Follow Travis Downey on Twitter: @TravisNWFDN
