One of the goals Coach Carl had set for the girls team was to get a relay to state.  The 200 Medley Relay accomplished that goal in the first event at Districts.  The relay had their best time this year by just over 2 seconds and finished 8th.  They had to wait until Sunday to find out they had placed 21st in the State meet.  The relay members were Briana Conners swimming backstroke, Kadie Ruff, breastroke, Sarah May butterfly and Alex Norris freestyle.  The girls definitely have a shot at moving up into the consolation finals at State - which is the top 16 relays.

 

Alex Norris qualified automatically in the 200 IM by finishing 4th, and is seeded 6th at State.  Alex also qualified in the 100 butterfly and is seeded 13th at State. 

 

The boys also achieved the goal Coach Carl set for them by qualifying all three relays to state.  The boys relays had their best times in all three relays and have "wiggle" room to move up into solid seed positions for the consolation finals.  The 200 Medley relay consisted of Jose Cerda in backstroke, Matt Schramm in breaststroke, TJ Biddle in fly and Chris Culin with the freestyle leg.  Finishing 8th at the district, they will be seeded 16th at State.  In the 200 Free Relay, the boys finished in 6th but are seeded 17th.  Manuel Gutierrez led off, followed by Steven Winkler, Ben Keefe and Chris Culin.  The 400 Free Relay finished 7th and is seeded 14th.  Thomas Norris led off with his best 100 time of the season a 49.42.  Steven, Ben and Manuel completed the team with all boys going under 50 seconds.

 

Also qualifying to State is Manuel Gutierrez with his automatic qualifying swim resulting in a 4th place finish in the 200 IM.  He is seeded 6th at State.  Thomas Norris dropped 5 seconds off his 500 free placing 13th in the district and qualifying 20th for state.

 

Two boys fell victim to the automatic qualifying times in losing their bid for competing at State.  Ben Keefe in the 200 Free and Manuel in th 500 lost spots to automatic qualifiers from other districts, even though they have a faster time than the qualifier.  Although rules are in place at the District meets that allows swimmers to compete if they are faster than an automatic qualifier, no such rule exists for the State meet. 

 

We wish all competitors the best of luck in the State Meet.  Enjoy the experience! 

GO AVES!