Published Saturday, January 31, 2009
Local swim teams on the mark in final meet of regular season
The Newnan Times-Herald
If you thought getting a Gatorade bath in November and December was the worst "reward" a victory could bring for a high school coach, Courtney Stillwell now has that one beat after Friday's invitational swim meet at the Summit YMCA's Margaret Peniston Powell Family Aquatic Center.
Her post-meet celebratory dip might have eclipsed any shower a football coach might get after a big win.
In Stillwell's case, a historic first for Newnan's inaugural program resulted with a dunk into the YMCA pool, after Newnan's 200-yard freestyle relay captured a hard-fought state qualifying time of 1 minute 41.14 seconds, with just 36 hundredths of a second to spare. The effort sent the Cougars to its first-ever state swim meet, allowing Newnan and East Coweta boys athletes to represent the county together at next month's GHSA Swimming Championships.
Meanwhile, Friday's qualifier was a mere piece of an overall fulfilling finish to the regular season for local swimmers.
Host East Coweta, paced by three top-four individual efforts claimed the meet title with 243 points to finish ahead of Carrollton's 209.
Northgate, led by Bailey DeRidder's 16 points that included a victory in the 500 freestyle, finished third overall with 150 1/2 points. Newnan took sixth with 100 points, while just a hair away from both Spalding County (102) and LaGrange (106) in a battle for fourth place.
Individually, East Coweta's boys were led by 18 points from Jamie Wright, tying for best effort among boys. Fellow senior Jake O'Brien was also among the top-four individual scorers for the meet with 16 points. The Lady Indians were led by Myranda Kralman's 16 points, led by her win in the 200 freestyle, to also take top-four honors.
Individual wins by Wright (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke) and O'Brien (100 breaststroke) helped catapult ECHS ahead in the meet.
They kept the momentum through the meet's final event -- the 400 freestyle relay. The duo joined teammates Weston Dean and fellow senior Ian Boulet for an impressive winning time of 3:45.36. It will be one of three relays East Coweta will participate in at the GHSA State Swimming Championships.
Still, it was East Coweta's depth in the final event that kept the hosts on top in the end. The Indians also received 10 points from its 400 freestyle 'B' relay, while both Lady Indians 400 freestyle entries, led by Kralman, combined for another 18 points to hold off Carrollton, a Class AAA school powered by an established recreation-level program.
Wright's win in the 100 butterfly just missed fifth individual state time by .24 seconds, to go with his win in the 100 backstroke. O'Brien, headed to state in the 100 breaststroke, won Friday's event, and added a second place finish in the 200 freestyle.
Kralman held off Carrollton's Allison Gordon to win the 100 freestyle in 1:00.77, after having already won the 200 freestyle (2:15.76). She joined Jessica Cooper, Elizabeth Evans and Miranda Moore to take second in the 400 freestyle relay, completing a 90-point effort from the Lady Indians, second behind Carrollton.
Newnan's first taste of state-qualifying success in the 200 freestyle relay brought one of the meet's most exciting, and most deafening moments. In the final heat, the Cougars took the lead on the beginning of the second leg.
A lineup comprised of freshmen Wes Hardwick and Zach Ponce, and sophomores Joe Crain and Cole Cash kept the pace and used Cash's anchor time of 24.71-- better than the Cougar swimmer's own fourth-place time in the 50 freestyle earlier Friday -- to tap in just under the state cut, sending the foursome and the Newnan faithful into a frenzy.
It later sent Stillwell into the water while going over some post-meet results. Relay team members scooped up the coach for another big splash, as much as she wasn't prepared.
"That's ok," said Stillwell afterwards, her navy polo shirt still drenched. "It was worth it."
For a complete rundown of Friday's final regular season swim meet, check Sunday's Times-Herald.
