Area swimmers prepare for state finals

The 3A FHSAA State Swimming and Diving Finals will be held Friday at the Sailfish Aquatic Center in Stuart.

Preliminaries will be held in the morning beginning at 9 a.m. The top 16 marks in the relays and individual events will qualify for the finals session in the evening beginning at 5:30 p.m. The top eight finishers will contest for medals in the A final and the next fastest eight for points in the B final.

The top 24 divers will compete at 1:30 p.m. Each diver gets six dives which are scored. The top scores are then awarded.

Live coverage of the event can be seen on the NFHS Network. Live results will be posted on the Meet Mobile app and, following the meet, on the FHSAA.com website.

Order of events (girls followed by boys):

200-yard Medley Relay
200 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
100 Butterfly
100 Freestyle
500 Freestyle
200 Freestyle Relay
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
400 Freestyle Relay

Click here for the link to this year’s seeds. Click here to see last year’s 3A state results

Area Swimmers at the state competition.

Boys

200 Individual Medley
Michael Mullen, GHS, Jr

Mullen comes in seeded No. 1 after winning the 3A Region 1 (3AR1) meet last week in a time of 1 minute, 50.43 seconds. His nearest competitor is Countryside senior Andrew Taylor who has a time of 1:51.28 this season. Taylor is the defending state champion and swam 1:48.88 last year.

Mullen was under the All American Consideration (AA-C) cutoff time of 1:51.52. This recognizes the top 8% of US high schoolers in each event. He will have a chance to earn an All American Automatic (AA-A) mark if he swims under 1:49.41. This recognizes the top 2% of US high schoolers in each event.

Casey Whitaker, GHS, Fr

Whitaker knocked off nine seconds off his personal best to post the 24^th-seeded time of 2:04.06. It will be his first appearance at state.

100 Freestyle
Will Sammy, GHS, So
Sammy is seeded No. 4 after swimming 47.38 to finish second at the 3AR1 meet. He defeated last year’s state runner-up Ryder Gentry of Chiles by 0.05 seconds. The No. 1 seed is Matthew Koziol of Nease with a time of 46.97. Koziol finished eighth at the Class 4A State Finals last year with a time of 46.88.

100 Backstroke

Will Sammy, GHS, So
Sammy is seeded No. 3 with a time of 52.68 after finishing second at the 3AR1 meet. He was edged out by last year’s third placer, Nathan Castano of Chiles, in 52.58. Sebastian River senior Mitchell Ledford is the top seed with a time of 50.96. Ledford won the 100 Backstroke last year in a time of 46.86. Sammy was 12^th at last year’s state final in a time of 54.27.

100 Breaststroke

Michael Mullen, GHS, Jr

Mullen comes in seeded first with an AA-C time of 56.43 after winning the 3AR1 meet. The next fastest swimmer is Nease senior Rich Nguyen who has a mark of 57.02. His time would have won last year’s state meet. The AA-A standard for this event is 55.65.

Ian Disoway, Columbia, Fr

Disoway finished seventh at the 3AR1 meet in a time of 1:01.76. He will be the 18^th seed and look for a spot in the final session in the evening.

200 Freestyle Relay

GHS enters as the seventh seed after finishing third at the 3AR1 meet in a time of 1:29.13. Michael Mullen (Jr), Will Sammy (So), Casey Whitaker (Fr) and Jackson O’Neill (Sr) will try to better last year’s third place finishing team which clocked a 1:27.53. O’Neill is the only returning member of that team.
The No. 1 seed is Nease with a time of 1:26.57.

Girls

1-Meter Diving

Lilah Kage, So, GHS

Kage will make her second appearance at state after finishing second at the 3AR1 meet with a score of 385.5 points.  Kage, So, GHS, was fifth at last year’s state championships with a score of 383.65. She is seeded eighth this year. The top seed is Kaitlyn Raby of St. Thomas Aquinas with a score of 495.55.

200 Medley Relay
GHS enters the meet as the 18^th seed after finishing eighth at the 3AR1 meet with a time of 1:58.24. Michelle Han (Sr), Stella Roberts (Jr), Morgan Follon-Hooghius (Jr) and Kara Walters (Fr) will try for a spot in Friday night’s finals. Last year, the ‘Canes finished ninth in a time of 1:52.54. Han is the lone returner from that team.

200 Freestyle

Ava Fuller, So, GHS

Fuller enters as the 22^nd seed after finishing eighth at the 3AR1 meet in a personal best time of 1:59.28. This will be her second appearance at state and first as an individual. Last year’s 400 Freestyle Relay team was disqualified for an early takeoff. The top seed in the event is Countryside senior Summer Caldwell who has a mark of 1:51.15.

100 Butterfly

Michelle Han, GHS, Sr
Michelle Han enters as the 23^rd seed after finishing fifth at the 3AR1 meet in a time of 1:01.47. Has finished 22^nd last year at a time of 1:00.30.

200 Freestyle Relay

The Canes enter with the 13^th-seeded time of 1:43.79 after finishing sixth at the 3AR1 meet last week. Morgan Follon-Hooghius (Jr), Michelle Han (Sr), Stella Roberts (Jr) and Layla Canales (Sr) will try to better the 11^th place finish and 1:41.21 time from last year. The top seed is Ponte Verde with a time of 1:35.76.

500 Freestyle

Fuller enters as the 15^th seed after finishing eighth in a new personal best time of 5:15.94 at the 3AR1 meet. The top seed is Cape Coral junior, Melissa Blaine with a time of 4:58.82.