The Eastside boys swim team has high expectations heading into today’s FHSAA Class 2A state championship meet.
The Rams have already won the city and district titles, and they were runners-up in 2A-Region 1.
“We hope to place in the top three as a team, which would be the highest place an EHS boys team has ever had,” said Eastside coach Jon Allen. “We are also looking to make finals in all three relays and win at least one.”
One of those state title hopefuls is the 200-yard Medley Relay team of Chris Jeong (backstroke), Liam Aleman (breaststroke), Eric Gong (butterfly) and Abraham Burangulov (free).
They have the highest seed time entering the race at 1 minute, 37.09 seconds.
“Each of the guys on the relay have qualified for state individually in their stroke, so they are each at an elite level in their specialty,” Allen said. “Also, we settled in on this lineup early in the season so those four have really embraced their roles.”
Aleman could win two individual state titles.
The senior enters with the top seed time in the 200-yard IM (1:55.10) and the 100-yard Breaststroke (59.21).
“Liam has been such a great addition to this team,” Allen said. “He can flip on the switch when it’s time to race and thrives in big moments. He has some stiff competition but I think he could be our first state champion since 2013 (Wesley Olmsted).”
Gong, a sophomore, is seeded third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 51.22.
“Eric gets better every race and is a competitor,” Allen said. “He is a bright spot for the future too being only a sophomore. If he gets the details of his race right and everything clicks he’ll have a shot.”
The Eastside girls won district and placed third at regionals.
Their top female swimmer is Elise Panna and her older sister Noelle. Elise was a Region champion in the 100 free and 100 backstroke, while Noelle is looking to make the final in the 200 IM and 500 free at State.
The 2023 Florida High School Swimming & Diving State Championships will get underway this weekend with classifications 1A (Saturday) and 2A (Friday). For the first time in the event’s history, Ocala’s Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training Center (FAST) will serve as the host location.
The morning session will consist of the preliminary qualifying events, with the Finals tentatively scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. each evening.
Visit the FHSAA website for results.
On Saturday, the P.K. Yonge girls swimming team could take home gold in a few events in Class 1A.
Last Tuesday at the Class 1A-Region 1 meet at Bolles (Jacksonville), senior Lillie Nesty, a University of Texas commit, set a pool record with a time of 1:47.44 in the 200-yard freestyle.
It was also an Automatic All-American time which means she is among the top 100 swimmers in the country in that event.
Nesty, who is the daughter of University of Florida Men’s and Women’s Head Swimming and Diving Coach Anthony Nesty, is the defending state champion in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:46.65.
“I’ve been doing a lot of great training this season so I’m hoping to get a best time in the 200 free and another best time in the 500 free,” she said. “I guess if I just keep my pace which I’ve been practicing, I did a nice set today (Wednesday) with pace, so I’m hoping for a good race.”
It will mark the first time that she has competed in the 500-yard freestyle at the state tournament.
“Over the years, from freshman year of high school to now, I’ve tried out a lot of different events and I’ve found that the 200 free is a good fit for me and I’m trying the 500 free because I’m still learning which event is best for me when I go to college, so we’ll see if the 500 is good,” Nesty said.
Nesty, who is seeded first in the 500-yard freestyle with a personal best time of 4:48.98 (AA-A), has a chance to go after a pair of state records.
Morgan Tankersley of Class 4A Plant (Tampa) set the 200-yard freestyle state record in 2019 with a time of 1:44.31. She also owns the record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:37.60.
Junior Alessandra Quintana, who will compete in two individual events at state (200 IM and 100 backstroke), along with two relays (200 and 400), and sophomore Abbie McGovern (backstroke and all three relays) join Nesty and three other Lady Blue Wave for a chance at a top 10 finish.
Despite not having a diving team, P.K. Yonge coach Kara Dawson feels like they can finish higher than that.
As a team, the P.K. Yonge girls, who won a district title, finished runner-up to defending state champion Bolles (Jacksonville) at regionals.
“I think they can do better than top 10 actually, I really do” said Dawson, who led P.K. Yonge to a No. 3 finish at the 2019 state meet. “We need to have some good swims from the individuals. I think all of our individuals have a chance to place in the top 16 and all of our relays have a chance to make top eight, but we have to swim really fast.”
Nesty, Dawson and the Lady Rams were guests on “The Prep Zone” sports show this past Wednesday at Sonic Drive-In.
The Class 4A and 3A state meets are next Friday, Nov. 10, and Saturday, Nov. 11, respectively.