By David Rogers. WILKSBORO, N.C. — For a high school swimming dual meet, it doesn’t get much better than Watauga’s 68-7 women’s team win and the men’s 57-7 win over Alexander Central, especially with some of the Pioneers competing in other than their normal events or distances. The Wilkes YMCA hosted the event.
“We had a strong meet,” Pioneer head coach David Gragg acknowledged afterwards. “I used it as an opportunity for some swimmers to compete in ‘off’ events, which gave them a chance to swim something different than their normal routine. For others, it gave them a last chance to improve time before next week’s scheduled conference meet or to swim on a relay for the last time of the season. I appreciate Alexander Central for allowing it to just be us at the meet. A tri-meet would have restricted our flexibility.”
Gragg seemed confident in his team’s prospects for the Northwestern Conference meet.
“We look forward to the conference meet next week,” said Gragg. “I have not looked at the season as us being defending champions, with teams chasing us. Rather, it has been more about challenging ourselves and performing better than last year. We will find out Wednesday how that goes.”
WATAUGA’S TOP PERFORMERS
Women’s 200 Medley Relay (4 entries)
- 1st – Watauga A, comprised of Lola Herring, Maggie Cheves, Lauren Patterson, Athena Elliott
- 2nd – Watauga B, comprised of Annabelle Stewart, MK Riddle, Macie Kent, Georgia Parker
Men’s 200 Medley Relay (3 entries)
- 1st – Watauga A, comprised of Anson Ross, Ryan Wood, Vaughn Ladd, Michael Makdad
Women’s 200 Freestyle (9 entries)
- 2nd – Maddy Elmore
- 3rd – Veronica Ryan
- 4th – Grace Lesesne
Men’s 200 Freestyle (5 entries)
- 1st – Summit Allan
Women’s 200 Individual Medley (3 entries)
- 1st – Annabelle Stewart
- 2nd – MK Riddle
- 3rd – Iyla Freed
Men’s 200 Individual Medley (1 entry)
- 1st – Michael Makdad
Women’s 50 Freestyle (28 entries)
- 1st – Lauren Patterson
- 2nd – Athena Elliott
- 3rd – Virginia St. Clair
- 4th – Lola Herring
- 5th – Georgia Parker
- 6th – Elise Rasco
- 7th – Austin Dyer
- 8th – Abbi Shuman
Men’s 50 Freestyle (17 entries)
- 1st – Vaughn Ladd
- 2nd – Anson Ross
- 3rd – Wes Coatney
- 4th – Ben Parker
- 6th – Drew Jasper
- 7th – Nick Lyons
- 8th – Sam Rex
- 9th – Thomas Moss
Women’s 100 Butterfly (1 entry)
- 1st – Elise Rasco
Men’s 100 Butterfly (3 entries)
- 1st – Vaughn Ladd
- 2nd – Anson Ross
Women’s 100 Freestyle (19 entries)
- 1st – Maggie Cheves
- 2nd – Virginia St. Clair
- 3rd – Athena Elliott
- 4th – Austin Dyer
- 5th – Cadence Smith
- 6th – Abbi Shuman
Men’s 100 Freestyle (14 entries)
- 1st – Ryan Wood
- 2nd – Paul Gamiel
- 3rd – Ben Parker
- 4th – Nick Lyons
- 5th – Trathan Gragg
- 6th – Drew Jasper
- 7th – Sam Rex
- 8 – Thomas Moss
- 9 – Silas Powell
Women’s 500 Freestyle (4 entries)
- 1st – Abi Pitts
- 2nd – Veronica Ryan
- 3rd – Annie Willis
Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay (8 entries)
- 1st – Watauga A, comprised of Lauren Patterson, Athena Elliott, Lola Herring, Virginia St. Clair
- 2nd – Watauga B, comprised of Georgia Parker, Annabelle Stewart, Macie Kent, Elise Rasco
- 4th – Austin Dyer, MK Riddle, Abbi Shuman, Cadence Smith
Men’s 200 Freestyle Relay (6 entries)
- 1st – Watauga A, comprised of Vaughn Ladd, Anson Ross, Ryan Wood, Michael Makdad
- 2nd – Watauga C, comprised of Nick Lyons, Trathan Gragg, Paul Gamiel, Ben Parker
Women’s 100 Backstroke (4 entries)
- 1st – Maggie Cheves
- 2nd – Macie Kent
- 3rd – Cadence Smith
Men’s 100 Backstroke (3 entries)
- 1st – Ryan Wood
- 2nd – Michael Makdad
- 3rd – Wes Coatney
Women’s 100 Breaststroke (4 entries)
- 1st – Lauren Patterson
- 2nd – MK Riddle
Men’s 100 Breaststroke (5 entries)
- 1st – Paul Gamiel
- 2nd – Summit Allan
- 3rd – Trathan Gragg
Women’s 400 Freestyle Relay (5 entries)
- 1st – Watauga A, comprised of Elise Rasco, Lola Herring, Maggie Cheves, Virginia St. Clair
- 2nd – Watauga B, comprised of Veronica Ryan, Abi Pitts, Cadence Smith, Annabelle Stewart
Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay (3 entries)
- 1st – Watauga A, comprised of Sam Rex, Drew Jasper, Ben Parker, Wes Coatney
