Prep Swimming: Heritage School fourth at Deerfield Open
From Staff Reportssports@newnan.com
Varsity swimmers from The Heritage School added qualifying times for the upcoming GISA State Meet and Hawks junior Tanner Brandner established a new school record in the 50-yard freestyle during Saturday’s Deerfield Open in Albany.
The Hawks finished fourth overall while paced by three finishes by Brandner in the top-3, including his record-setting effort of 23.25 in the 50 freestyle, where he placed third. Brandner also took third in the 100 backstroke (1:05.52) and was fourth in the 100 freestyle (52.64).
Heritage School's varsity boys scored in both the 200-medley and -freestyle relays. A lineup of Brandner, Matthew Harmon, Gage Warren and McCullough Burns finished fourth in the freestyle in 1:44.95 and the foursome also placed sixth in the medley event in 2:01.75.
The Hawks’ ‘B’ relay of Matthew Burns, Ben Dudley, Tyler Bean and Trevor Sawyers finished 12th in the freestyle and 13th in the medley.
Bean joined the Hawks’ individual state qualifiers in the 200 freestyle by placing ninth in 2:39.23, a personal best.
Two Heritage School varsity girls swimmers, meanwhile, added state qualifying times at the meet. Senior MacKenzie York qualified in two events. She turned in a sixth-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a personal-best time of 1:24.36 and also qualified in the 100 breaststroke in 1:30.13 while placing 13th overall in another best time.
Junior Kelly Abrams added a state qualifying time of 2:58.09 in the 200 Individual Medley (IM) while finishing ninth with a personal-best time.
Other standout efforts among varsity boys efforts included Harmon’s second-place effort in the 200 freestyle. He also finished sixth in the 100 backstroke (1:07.99) and 10th in the 100 freestyle (57.99).
Dudley added a top-five effort individually by placing fourth in the 100 butterfly in 1:15.15. He also was 12th in the 100 backstroke (1:17.18) and 17th in the 50 freestyle (26.56).
Warren, a freshman, had two swims among the top-eight. He finished sixth in the 100 butterfly (1:19.84) and seventh in the 200 freestyle (2:18.79) while also 13th in the 100 breaststroke.
Both Sawyers and Burns had personal bests in the 100 breaststroke. Burns added an eighth-place effort in the 100 butterfly.
Junior-varsity lineups also provided strong efforts led by individual victories by Allie Browning and Harper Minor among girls as well as McCullough Burns in boys.
Browning, a seventh grader, won the 50 butterfly in 33.54 and was also sixth in the 50 freestyle and seventh in the 100 freestyle. Minor, an eighth-grade swimmer, won the 100 IM and was third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50 backstroke. They two also were part of a second-place freestyle relay and a medley team that finished third.
Isabelle Harris, who had a ninth-place effort in the 50 breaststroke in a personal-best time, swam on both relays.
Seventh graders Sealy Dreyer, who swam the freestyle relay, and Olivia Gentry, who swam the medley, both had personal bests individually in the 50 and 100 freestyle.
Among JV boys, Burns won three events — the 50 butterfly (29.07), 50 backstroke (31.31) and 100 IM (1:12.79) — to lead the Hawks.
Charlie Minor added state times in the 50 backstroke, 50 freestyle and 50 breaststroke. Fellow sixth grader Eric Brandner finished eighth in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the 50 breaststroke.
