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Margalis, Glover, Cooke Take Titles

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2007

ORLANDO - It took a year for Countryside sophomore Melanie Margalis to get a new personal best in the 200 individual medley. She finally broke through her old mark at the perfect time.

Margalis posted a 2:01.69 in the 200 IM, shaving two seconds off her best time in the event on Saturday at the Class 3A state swim meet to claim the gold medal.

That was also the top time for all classifications during the state meet.

"I've been working a lot more on turns because my turns were really bad so I worked on dolphin kicks and I think that really helped me," Margalis said.

The only thing that disappointed her about the win was that she was shooting for 2 minutes flat and a teammate had promised her ice cream if she did it.

"It still feels good to be a state champion," Margalis laughed.

Margalis also claimed a bronze medal in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.65 to help the Countryside girls claim fourth place overall.

Margalis would have liked two gold medals but she didn't believe she was at her best in the 100 breast.

"I think I was still excited from the IM so I wasn't as focused," Margalis said.

Countryside's Rachel Burns injured her shoulder during the 200 free but swam in spite of her injury. Burns finished eighth in the 200 free (1:55.42) and seventh in the 100 free (52.45). Freshman Megan Rossi was seventh in the 500 free (5:05.35).

The Cougars' 200 free relay (1:38.85) and 400 free relay (3:35.03) both finished fifth.

On the boys side, Palm Harbor came away as the big winner.

The Hurricanes placed third overall behind Alex Glover's gold in the 100 fly (50.36), while Sickles was sixth thanks in large part to Gregg Cooke's gold in the 50 free (20.85).

In addition to the 100 fly title, Glover finished fifth in the 50 free (21.29).

"I knew this was my last chance to do it and so if I didn't do it now, I'd never have the chance to do it again," said Glover, who missed first place last year by .02. "Cypress Bay's Sean Spires was coming up and I didn't even see him but I knew I had to do everything I could to win it. So I just went ahead and tried to hold on the rest of the way.

"I've been here since my freshman year in the fly and each year I've improved and improved and finally my senior year I got to be state champ."

PHU's Weston Stearns was eighth in the 200 free (1:46.21) and sixth in the 500 free (4:41.54). Palm Harbor's 200 medley relay was fifth (1:37.93) and its 400 free relay was second (3:10.43).

Cooke won gold with his personal-best time and the best time of all three classifications. His previous best was 21:08

"I saw right off the bat it was going to be a really fast pool so I was expecting to have to go under 21 seconds to win," Cooke said. "I just thought if I got the flip turns, I knew I could do it."

Also for Sickles, Conor Swanson was second in the 200 IM (1:53.70) and fourth in the 100 back (52.54).

The Gryphons boys' 200 free relay placed fourth (1:27.81) and the 400 free relay was sixth (3:14.61).

St. Petersburg's Tracy Rorer took home a silver medal in the girls 100 breast (1:04.64)

In the diving competition, Durant's Kaylee Dobock earned a bronze medal with a score of 434.55.

In the girls 100 backstroke, Lake Brantley's Sarah Bateman broke the record set by Northeast's Megan Romano on Friday.

Romano broke the 10-year old record in 54.41 and Bateman set the new mark 24 hours later in 54.39.

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