Led by Niceville’s eight state qualifiers in the Region 1-2A Tournament Friday at the University of West Florida, three area 2A teams will be represented at the 2A state tournament set for Thursday in Orlando.
Individually for the Niceville girls, Caitlin Myers qualified in third in the 100-yard freestyle in 52.33 seconds and in fifth in the 50-yard freestyle in 24.17; Kalanne Krause qualified 21st with a time of 2:12.32 in the 200-yard individual medley; and Milbrey Parke’s 59.63 finish in the 100-yard butterfly qualified her 13th. In relay action, Krause, Myers, Parke and Jessica Tibaduiza provided a third-best qualifying time of 1:41.40 in the 200-yard freestyle.
For the Niceville boys individually, Chaz Brechler’s time of 1:48.15 in the 200-yard freestyle qualified him 21st and in the 100-yard backstroke, Matt Markwardt’s 1:01.98 placed him 14th and Wyatt Kartvedt’s 1:03.34 had him in 23rd.
Choctaw, meanwhile, had one relay team and three swimmers qualify for four individual spots.
Emma Strom qualified in 12th in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:10.05 and 13th in the 100-yard breaststroke in 59.99, and Amelia Strom qualified in 20th in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.36. The duo was also apart of a relay team consisting of Jaide Lewis and Rachel Hidalgo that qualified 14th in the 200-yard medley. Meanwhile for the Choctaw boys, Justin Lewis was the loan qualifier with a 17th-place finish of 1:47.66 in the 200-yard freestyle.
Representing Fort Walton Beach, Levi Wilke qualified 23rd in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:55.27.
The last team to be represented was Navarre. With a score of 306.15 in the 1-meter diving, Andrew Berteau qualified in 24th.
