Local Swimmers Compete in State Championship Meet

On Nov. 5th and Nov. 8th, two post season swim meets took place involving multiple Leon County schools. Chiles, Lincoln and Leon all competed in the FHSAA 3A Region 1 swim meet located at Morcom Aquatics Center in Tallahassee, FL while Maclay was the only Leon County school represented in the FHSAA 1A State Championship at Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training in Ocala, FL.

1A State Championship

Maclay’s Olivia Holt was the lone Leon County swimmer to qualify for the girls FHSAA 1A State Championship, accomplishing the feat as just an eighth grader. Holt competed in the finals in one event, the 100 Fly. She swam a personal best in the 100 fy finals placing seventh individually with a time of 57.61.

3A Region 1

In the boys’ competition, Chiles placed second as a team with a score of 272 and 4 medals, Leon placed eighth with a score of 117, and Lincoln placed 24th. Chiles finished the regional meet with three first place finishes and one third place finish.

Chiles’ lead swimmer and Stanford commit, Owen Ekk, won three gold medals placing first in two individual events and one relay. Ekk placed first in the 100 freestyle with a season best time of 45.37 and placed first in the 200 IM with another season best time of 1:49.63. The Chiles team that won the 200-medley relay consisted of four swimmers including Owen Ekk, Crosby Fenniman, Tyler Wang and Will Bracken. They won the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:36.92. Fenniman won the only bronze medal for the Timberwolves swimming a personal best in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.29.

On the girl’s side, Chiles placed fifth as a team with a score of 165 and two medals, Leon placed 13th with a score of 61 and one medal, and Lincoln placed 17th with a score of 21. Chiles’ McKay Yearty was the only Chiles swimmer to win medals in the girls competition. Yearty placed 3rd in the 200 freestyle with a personal best of 1:53.38 and also placed third in the 500 freestyle with a season best of 5:03.30. Leon’s Karena Perry placed second in the 1M diving finals with a score of 398.60, winning the only medal for her school.

The FHSAA 3A State Championship will take place on Nov. 15th at Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training in Ocala, FL.