First Baptist High School swept the AAA titles at the South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) state championships on Saturday, which brought the girls streak to 8-straight. The boys, meanwhile, shattered all three state relay records while winning 8 of 11 events.
In the AA division, Spartanburg Day swept the titles, defending state championships from last year in both genders.
Full results available on Meet Mobile under “2014 SCISA State Championships.”
Girls Meet
First Baptist got three of its wins courtesy of the Kraft sisters, Logan and Kelsey. Logan won a pair of races and Kelsey contributed one of her own.
They won back-to-back titles in the meet’s first two events. Kelsey kicked things off with a 2:01.19 to win the 200 free, defending the title her sister won a year ago. Then Logan went 2:12.09 to win the 200 IM by over 10 seconds and push First Baptist out to an early lead.
Logan returned to win the 500 free with a 5:10.04, showing off her endurance and versatility this year after winning the 200 and 100 frees a year ago.
First Baptist also swept the free relays, with both sisters helping the effort. The 200 free relay went 1:44.69, winning a tight race over Heathwood Hall (1:44.86). Logan Kraft was 24.90 on the anchor leg to give her squad the win, and Grace Arredondo chipped in a 25.78 leadoff leg.
In the 400 free relay, First Baptist won by a larger margin, going 3:51.67 and beating Porter-Gaud by four seconds. Once again Arredondo led off, going 56.39, and Logan Kraft was 54.84 on the anchor leg.
Porter-Gaud had a pair of strong individuals to finish second overall. Elysse Pardus won back-to-back events in the middle of the meet, going 25.66 to win the 50 free and following that with a 58.76 win in the 100 fly. Arredondo was second for First Baptist in the 50 at 25.82.
Also a double winner for Porter-Gaud was Jessica Weitz, who won the 100 free (54.72) and 100 back (1:01.70).
Heathwood Hall claimed the medley relay, the only relay event not to go to First Baptist. Heathwood went 1:53.35, getting a 31.51 from breaststroker Abby Wilson, who would go on to win the open 100 breast with a 1:08.54.
Team Scores:
- First Baptist – 190
- Porter-Gaud – 174
- Heathwood Hall – 140
Boys Meet
First Baptist was dominant from the get-go, smashing the state 200 medley relay record in the very first event. Lucas Langston, Quinn Mann, Kaiser Rich and Ben Kramer combined to go 1:43.57, taking two and a half seconds off the state mark.
Langson and Rich went on to win dual individual titles. Langston paced the 200 IM (2:01.50) and 500 free (4:55.77), while Rich took the 100 fly (54.19) and 100 breast (1:03.58).
First Baptist also got dual wins from sprint freestyler Jakob Obenaus. Obenaus went 22.52 to win the 50 free, leading a 1-2 with teammate Ethan Madden. He came back to win the 100 free in 49.55 with teammate Ben Kramer second.
The 200 free relay put together Madden, Kramer, Mann and Obenaus to go 1:32.56, with Obenaus anchoring in 22.56. Then in the 400 free relay, Madden, Rich, Langston and Obenaus combined to go 3:26.07 with a 50.13 from Obenaus.
Other individual winners were Matthew Fadel of the Ben Lippen School in the 200 free (1:48.42) and Hammond’s Zac Lipsitz in the 100 back (54.75).
Team Scores
- First Baptist – 251
- Pinewood Prep – 145
- Ben Lippen School – 138
AA Meet
The big star of the AA meet was James Hammond of Heritage Academy. He won dual titles, including a state record-setting 500 free in 4:47.45, almost 7 seconds under the old record. Hammond also won the 200 free with a 1:46.26.
Other double winners for the boys were Hilton Head Prep’s Samuel Meighan, who won the 200 IM (2:06.67) and 100 breast (1:02.41) and Hilton Head Christian Academy’s Grayson Lentz, who took the 50 (22.76) and 100 freestyles (50.52).
For the girls, Spartanburg Day’s Aimee McVey won twice in propelling her team to the title. She took the 200 free (1:58.59) and 500 free (5:22.08).
Spartanburg Day won 3 of the 6 relays in AA. For the girls, Spartanburg came out with the 200 medley (2:07.27) and 400 free (4:02.44) titles while the boys won the 400 free (3:41.04). Hilton Head Christian Academy was also tough on the relay races, taking the boys 200 medley (1:47.98) and 200 free (1:36.69). Oakbrook Prep won the final relay, the girls 200 free, going 1:54.09.
Team Scores
-Boys
- Spartanburg Day – 211
- Hilton Head Christian Academy – 161
- Oakbrok Prep – 129
-Girls
- Spartanburg Day – 209
- Oakbrook Prep – 134
- Hilton Head Christian Academy – 123