Niceville nabs two top-5 finishes at state swim meet

While there weren’t any podium finishes for area swimmers Wednesday in the Class 2A Swimming and Diving Finals in Orlando, there were plenty of noteworthy efforts.

With a pair of top-five finishes, Niceville led the charge.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Caitlyn Myers, Milbrey Parke, Kalanne Krause and Jessica Tibaduiza advanced past preliminaries with a fifth place finish and then were 2.89 seconds off the podium in fourth.

Individually, Myers took home fifth in the 100 freestyle in 52.74 seconds, 1.69 seconds away from a top-three finish. She also finished ninth in the 50 freestyle in 24.31.

Krause also advanced past prelims, finishing 11^th in the 200 individual medley in 2:11.75.

Failing to shore up a top-16 finish in prelims, Parke finished 20^th in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.43; Mark Markwardt and Wyatt Kartvedt finished 19^th and 20^th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.27 and 1:02.43, respectively; and Chaz Brechler placed 20^th in the 200 freestyle in 1:49.27.

Representing Choctaw, the 200 medley relay team of Emma Strom, Amelia Strom, Jaide Lewis and Rachel Hidalgo finished 13^th in 1:57.70; Emma Strom finished 14^th in both the 500 freestyle (5:12.58) and in the 100 backstroke (59.76); and Amelia Strom placed 16^th in the 200 individual medley in 2:17.11.

Failing to make it past prelims, Justin Lewis finished 24^th in the 200 freestyle in 1:52.28.

Fort Walton Beach’s lone representative, Levi Wilke, finished 19^th in the 500 freestyle in 4:54.62, and Navarre’s Andrew Berteau finished 23^rd in the 1-meter diving with a score of 115.05.