Local swimmers fare well
Published 5:53 pm Thursday, November 1, 2007
Both Pearl River Central and Picayune had successul showings at the state swim meet Saturday at Delta State University.
Picayune wasn’t quite able to defend it’s boys state title from last year, but the Maroon Tide did finish fifth wth 170.5 points. The Lady Tide finished 21st.
For PRC, Gavin Lossett was the only local swimmer to win a state title and he helped guide the Blue Devils to a 14th place finish with 48 points while the PRC girls tallied 94 points and captured ninth place in the meet.
PRC’s Lossett, a senior, was the only local swimmer to win a state title, as he finished first in the boys 100-yard butterfly with a time of 53.23. Picayune’s Blake Rutherford was seventh.
Lossett also finished third in the 100-yard freestyle as well with Picayune’s Ben Daly finishing a few seconds back in sixth. Rutherford finished ninth.
In the 50-yard boys freestyle, Picayune’s Ben Daly finished fourth.
Cadie Griffing of PRC, also a senior swimmer, placed third in the 50 yard freestyle competition. She placed first in both the 100 Butterfly and 50 yard freestyle at the South State Swimming Competitions held in Biloxi on October 20.
PRC’s Lindsey Hongsinger finished ninth in the 50-yard freestyle Saturday.
Griffing finished seventh in the 100 butterfyly on Saturday while teammate Emily Speights came in a few seconds behind in ninth.
Pearl River Central took fourteen swimmers to the meet who had earned the right to represent their school either individually or on a relay. The PRC teams are coached by Chris King and Beverly Griffing.
The Maroon Tide 200-yard medley relay team of Daly, Jake Martinez, Blake Rutherford and Nick Riso finished fifth.
In the girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay, PRC’s team of Delorean Blair, Speights, Hongsinger and Griffing placed seventh.
Martinez of Picayune was sixth in the boys 100-yard breastroke, while Hancock’s Jameson Sacco finished ninth.
Picayune’s team of Walter Rusby, Clint Davis, Nick Riso and Aaron Spiers were seventh In the boys 400-yard freestyle relay.
Hancock finished 17th in girls competition, and the Hawks came in 22nd.