The girls of Academic Magnet repeated as South Carolina’s 3A high school state champs, while Bishop England won its first boys title in 2016.
Girls Meet
Academic Magnet pulled in just a single event title, but still topped the field by more than 80 points to win the team trophy.
That win came in the 200 free relay, where Campbell Babb, Skyler Ayers, Malia Borg and Ali DeLambo combined to go 1:46.22 and win by almost a second and a half.
Christ Church Episcopal School won a meet-high 6 event titles thanks to sister duo Sydney and Maddie Baker. Sydney won the 200 free (1:50.68) and 100 breast (1:03.07), while Maddie took the 200 IM (2:06.49) and 100 fly (56.35) individually.
Sydney Baker‘s 100 breast was one of two state records set in the 3A meet, the other coming on the boys side. Baker previously held the state record at 1:03.99 from last year.
The two also joined forces to win the opening and closing relays. It ws Diana Geary, Kailee Morgan, Maddie Baker and Sydney Baker who won the 200 medley relay in 1:51.91, and Mollie Folk joined Morgan and the Bakers to win the 400 free relay in 3:42.33.
Other event winners:
- Kathryn Snover of Greer Middle College won the 50 free in 24.94, touching out Greenville Tech Charter’s Anna Patterson by just .01 seconds.
- Patterson did return to win the 100 free in 55.36.
- May River’s Kaitlyn Pangilinan went 5:12.14 to take the 500f ree.
- Bluffton’s Abby Hess won the 100 back in 1:00.24.
Top 5 Teams:
- Academic Magnet – 486
- Bishop England – 401
- Christ Church Episcopal School – 335.5
- May River – 258
- Greenville Tech Charter – 250
Boys Meet
In a true showing of team strength, Bishop England won the boys title by 17 points without winning a single event. But Bishop England had a scorer inside the top 4 in all but one event, and featured three runner-up finishes. Cole Mummert was second in the 100 fly, Carter Rose in the 100 breast, and the 200 free relay was also a state runner-up.
May River dominated the strokes, fielding the state champ in the 100 back, 100 breast and 100 fly and combining the three to – unsurprisingly – win the 200 medley relay.
Erek Nelson was the backstroke champ, and he broke a 14-year-old state record with his 50.47. Clayton Boyles went 1:01.52 to win the 100 breast and Camron Reid won the 100 fly in 52.00. Those three opened up the medley relay, with Samuel Villalobos anchoring the team to a 1:38.79 state title.
On the freestyle end of things, Waccamaw was the team to beat, mostly thanks to double state champs sprinter Patrick Sullivan. Sullivan won the 50 free in 21.58, the 100 free in 48.04 and anchored both winning free relays. He joined John Grey Crosby, Sean King and Jonah Crosby to win the 200 free relay in 1:30.38 and that same foursome took the 400 free relay with a 3:21.81.
Also winning two individuals was Palmetto’s Talmadge Davis. He took the 200 IM in 1:54.09 and blew out the 500 free field in 4:38.64.
The other event winner was Christ Church Episcopal’s Rak Hovart in the 200 free at 1:48.24.
Top 5 Teams:
- Bishop England – 401
- Academic Magnet – 374
- May River – 335
- Waccamaw – 306
- St Joseph’s Catholic – 290