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HomeHigh SchoolUPDATED: High school swimmers make a splash in Watauga Rec Center pool

UPDATED: High school swimmers make a splash in Watauga Rec Center pool

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — A fast-paced opening to the 2022-23 high school swimming season was in the cards for Nov. 16, with swimmers from five high schools competing at the Watauga County Community Recreation Center.

In addition to host Watauga, the non-conference meet included swimmers from Draughn (Morganton), St. Stephens (Hickory), Science Hill (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Avery County.

As the meet was getting under way, Pioneer head coach David Gragg told High Country Sports that the new Rec Center facility has created even more interest in competitive swimming in the region, now that Watauga has a home pool in which to train and host events.

And they’re off! The women’s 100 yard freestyle event on Nov. 16 during the five-school high school meet at the Watauga Rec Center. Photo by David Rogers

“I almost always had around 30 swimmers before the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Gragg, “but after the Rec Center’s opening, our numbers have almost doubled. Last year, I had about 40, this year we have 55 on the team. I can’t cut anyone because the hardest working athletes are often the up and comers. Having numbers is a nice problem to have.”

In one of the most exciting races of the evening, Watauga’s Ryan Wood came from behind with a strong butterfly leg in 200 IM event to tie Science Hill, Nolan Hill with a time of 2:13.00. Wood trailed Hill by more than two seconds after the backstroke and breaststroke legs, but surged three-tenths of a second ahead after the butterfly leg. During the final freestyle portion of the race, Hill caught and turned slightly before Wood at the end of the first length of the pool, but Wood rallied in the final 10 yards to touch the wall at the same time.

Still only a junior, Wood was a key performer for the Watauga men’s team with his tie for No. 1 in the 200 IM, swimming the breaststroke leg of the Pioneers No. 2 placing in the 22 Yard Medley Relay, No. 2 in the 100 Yard Freestyle, and anchoring the team’s 400 Yard Freestyle Rely entry.

Athena Elliott competes in the 100 Yard Butterfly on Nov. 17 against other swimmers from Science Hill, Draughn, St. Stephens, Avery County and Watauga at the Community Recreation Center. Photo by David Rogers

On the Women’s side, a top performer for the Pioneers was junior Lauren Patterson, who swam the breaststroke leg of the team’s winning 200 Yard Medley Relay, place No. 1 in the 100 Yard Butterfly, led off the team’s first place entry in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, and finished No. 1 in the 100 Yard Breaststroke.

Another top performer in the women’s division was Virginia St. Clair, finishing No. 4 in the 200 Yard Freestyle, No. 2 in the 100 Yard Freestyle, anchored the Pioneers winning 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team, and anchored the winning Watauga team in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay.

TOP 5 IN EACH EVENT

Women’s 200-Yard Medley Relay (8 entries)

  1. Watauga A 1:55.00 (Cheves, Patterson, Rasco, Elliott)
  2. St. Stephens A 2:01.68 (Coburn, Caudle, Gruber, Parmenter)
  3. Science Hill A 2:02.99 (Streitz, Miller, Williams, Collins)
  4. Watauga B 2:17.22 (Smith, Riddle, Kent, Shuman)
  5. Draughn A 2:18.39 (Reasoner, Mull, Wood, Auton)

Men’s 200 Yard Medley Relay (8 entries)

  1. Science Hill A 1:46.94 (Huynh, Yepez, Hill, Burnette)
  2. Watauga A 1:49.75 (Ross, Wood, Makdad, Ladd)
  3. Science Hill B 1:56.03 (O’Connor, Kovac, Chandler, Gerard)
  4. St. Stephens A 1:56.71 (J Broos, C Broos, Smith, Noah)
  5. Science Hill C 2:04.09 (Jung, Zagolin, Shams, Swartzentruber)

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle (10 entries)

  1. Katie Parmenter, St. Stephens 2:00.49
  2. Katelyn Williams, Science Hill 2:02.87
  3. Lola Herring, Watauga, 2:08.23
  4. Virginia St. Clair, Watauga, 2:10.86
  5. Emma Teilhet, Science Hill, 2:18.32

Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle (11 entries)

  1. Colin Burnette, Science Hill, 1:54.40
  2. Cameron Broos, St. Stephens, 2:01.51
  3. Hedrick Noah, St. Stephens, 2:04.02
  4. Tyler Gerard, Science Hill 2:12.37
  5. Bradu Gerard. Science Hill 2:16.45

Women’s 200 Yard IM (10 entries)

  1. Deanna Miller, Science Hill, 2:23.75
  2. Blake Streitz, Science Hill, 2:28.85
  3. Riley Caudle, St. Stephens, 2:30.11
  4. Zoe Coburn, St. Stephens, 2:30.22
  5. Elise Rasco, Watauga, 2:33.13

Men’s 200 Yard IM (9 entries)

  1. TIE – Ryan Wood, Watauga, 2:13.00
  2. TIE – Nolan Hill, Science Hill, 2:13.00
  3. Jackson Broos, St. Stephens, 2:20.40
  4. Gabriel Yepez, Science Hill, 2:21.06
  5. Cooper Wells, Science Hill, 2:23.55

Women’s 50 Yard Freestyle (43 entries)

  1. Desi Collins, Science Hill, 27.35
  2. Lola Herring, Watauga, 27.61
  3. Ava Gruber, St. Stephens, 28.64
  4. Annabelle Stewart, Watauga, 29.26
  5. Abby Wood, Draughn, 29.38

Men’s 50 Yard Freestyle (34 entries)

  1. Logan Smith, Science Hill, 23.37
  2. Trey Jensen, Draughn, 23.58
  3. Tyler Gerard, Science Hill, 24.71
  4. Anson Ross, Watauga, 25:08
  5. Wesley Coatney, Watauga, 25:41

Women’s 100 Yard Butterfly (7 entries)

  1. Lauren Patterson, Watauga, 59.40
  2. Annalee Price, Science Hill, 1:02.94
  3. Elise Rasco, Watauga, 1:07.66)
  4. Ava Gruber, St. Stephens, 1:08.96
  5. Athena Elliott, Watauga, 1:09.49

Men’s 100 Yard Butterfly (8 entries)

  1. Nolan Hill, Science Hill, 58.22
  2. Daniel Huynh, Science Hill 59.06
  3. Anson Ross, Watauga, 1:01.77
  4. Michael Makdad, Watauga, 1:02.84
  5. Emmet Chandler, Science Hill, 1:05.30

Women’s 100 Yard Freestyle (11 entries)

  1. Katie Parmenter, St. Stephens 56.84
  2. Virginia St. Clair, Watauga, 58.08
  3. Blake Streitz, Science Hill, 1:00.11
  4. Emma Teilhet, Science Hill, 1:05.53
  5. MK Riddle, Watauga, 1:06.80

Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle (11 entries)

  1. Logan Smith, Science Hill, 51.87
  2. Ryan Wood, Watauga, 54.24
  3. Vaughn Ladd, Watauga, 57.30
  4. Gunner Smith, St. Stephens, 57.34
  5. Wesley Coatney, Watauga, 57.58

Women’s 500 Yard Freestyle (7 entries

  1. Katelyn Williams, Science Hill, 5:36.18
  2. Maggie Cheves, Watauga, 5:54.60
  3. Desi Collins, Science Hill, 5:56.46
  4. Annabelle Stewart, Watauga, 6:23.74
  5. Rhyannon Reasoner, Draughn, 6:30.35

Men’s 500 Yard Freestyle (6 entries)

  1. Colin Burnette, Science Hill, 5:20.45
  2. Cooper Wells, Science Hill, 5:51.03
  3. Jack O’Connor, Science Hill, 6:06.39
  4. Arden Jackson, Watauga, 7:42.72
  5. Bryson Call, St. Stephens, 8:09.64

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (11 entries)

  1. Watauga A, 1:45.93 (Patterson, Herring, Elliott, St. Clair)
  2. Science Hill A, 1:51.34 (Price, Streitz, Culver, Miller)
  3. Watauga B, 2:09.89 (Willis, Stewart, Baldwin, Parker)
  4. Science Hill B, 2:14.13 (Trinidad, Boyd, Nelson, England_
  5. St. Stephens A, 2:14.16 (Lee, White, Yount, Sanderson)

Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (8 entries)

  1. Science Hill A, 1:38.16 (Smith, Gerard, Wells, Hill)
  2. Watauga A, 1:44.69 (Allan, Rex, Ross, Coatney)
  3. Science Hill B, 1:47.26 (Kovac, Swartzentruber, Chandler, Trinidad)
  4. Draughn A, 1:48.52 (Sexton, Abernathy, Stephens, Jensen)
  5. St. Stephens, 1:55.94 (Strong, Sanderson, Lee, Burgess)

Women’s 100 Yard Backstroke (9 entries)

  1. Maggie Cheves, Watauga, 1:02.37
  2. Zoe Coburn, St. Stephens, 1:04.95
  3. Annalee Price, Science Hill, 1:09.06
  4. Rhyannon Reasoner, Draughn, 1:12.80
  5. Sarah Leerssen, Science Hill, 1:16.14

Men’s 100-Yard Backstroke (10 entries)

  1. Daniel Huynh, Science Hill, 57.54
  2. Michael Makdad, Watauga, 1:06.39
  3. Jack O’Connor, Science Hill, 1:07.84
  4. Joshua Jung, Science Hill, 1:09.16
  5. Arden Jackson, Watauga, 1:21.36

Women’s 100 Yard Breaststroke (9 entries)

  1. Lauren Patterson, Watauga, 1:08.92
  2. Deanna Miller, Science Hill, 1:14.76
  3. Anna Rose Culver, Science Hill, 1:17.53
  4. Riley Caudle, St. Stephens, 1:18.33
  5. MK Riddle, Watauga, 1:22.76

Men’s 100 Yard Breaststroke (12 entries)

  1. Gabriel Yepez, Science Hill, 1:09.40
  2. Cameron Broos, St. Stephens, 1:10.78
  3. Trey Jensen, Draughn, 1:12.39
  4. Joshua Kovac, Science Hill, 1:12.91
  5. Paul Gamiel, Watauga, 1:18.08

Women’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay (9 entries)

  1. Watauga A, 3:58.76 (Herring, Cheves, Rasco, St. Clair)
  2. Science Hill A, 3:59.20 (Collins, Culver, Williams, Price)
  3. St. Stephens A, 4:09.01 (Gruber, Caudle, Coburn, Parmenter)
  4. Draughn A, 4:35.80 (Wood, Auton, Mull, Reasoner)
  5. Watauga B, 4:42.73 (Freed, Smith, Kent, Stewart)

Men’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay (9 entries)

  1. Science Hill A, 3:34.22 (Burnette, Huynh, Yepez, Smith)
  2. Watauga A, 3:43.53 (Coatney, Ladd, Makdad, Wood)
  3. St. Stephens A, 3:47.13 (J Broos, Smith, Noah, C. Broos)
  4. Science Hill B, 4:10.30 (Gerard, Jung, Wells, Zagolin)
  5. Science Hill C, 4:20.96 (Teilhet, Trinidad, O’Connor, Edwards)
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