Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Sports

TBO > Sports

Region Swimming Preview

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2008

REGION SWIMMING

With trips to the state finals on the line, region meets begin Thursday at various locations. Hillsborough County is represented well by a host of talented athletes, many of whom will be trying to defend state titles.

Class 3A-Region 2

WHEN: Thursday

WHERE: Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers

SWIMMERS TO WATCH: Sickles and Wharton bring a lot of athletes to this meet. On the girls side, Sickles' Katie Cook and Wharton's Blair Kuethe will be battling in the 50 and 100 free events. Cook has the top qualifying time in the 50 free and the second-best in the 100 free. Kuethe has third-best 100 free and fourth-best 50 free time. ... The Sickles boys team posted impressive qualifying times. State champion Gregg Cook leads the 50 free with an All-American time of 20.98 and an All-American consideration time of 47.28 in the 100 free. Conor Swanson posted an All-American time of 1:52.01 in the 200 individual medley and an All-American consideration time of 59.47 in the 100 breaststroke. ... Wharton boys are led by Jordan Rees with the third-best qualifying time in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free. Tyler Ball leads East Bay with the third-best time in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 500 free. ... Hillsborough County girls divers posted the top three scores with Sickles' Alex Valder on top, followed by Gaither's Kamryn McNamara and Alonso's Brittany Mathers. Bloomingdale's Nicholas Wing-Holt leads the boys 1-meter diving.

Class 2A-Region 3

WHEN: Friday (diving) and Saturday (swimming)

WHERE: Northshore Pool in St. Petersburg

SWIMMERS TO WATCH: State champion and U.S. Junior National Team member Jason Taylor will lead Newsome in an effort to claim a third consecutive region title. The University of Florida commit has the top qualifying time in the 500 free and third-best in the 200 free. ... The girls meet features arguably the top swimmer in the Bay area, Northeast's Meg Romano. Newsome's girls, led by Katie Kyle and Sharla Milne, will attempt to recapture the region title that Plant surprisingly took last year. ... Three-time state champion Meg Anderson leads the Panthers with the top qualifying time in the 100 free and the second-best in the 50 free. Plant was edged out by Newsome in a regular-season meet by four points. The Panthers get a lot of points from their relay teams and also from diver Alex Hagen. Newsome counters with diver Alexa Wollach. ... King's Cody Wei boasts the top qualifying time in the 200 individual medley. The sophomore also has the third-best time in the 100 backstroke, an event he decided to compete in two weeks ago.

Class 1A-Region 3

WHEN: Friday

WHERE: Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers

SWIMMERS TO WATCH: Fort Myers Bishop Verot is the team to beat in this region, but Jesuit hopes to carry over momentum from last Thursday's meet in which it claimed a 10th consecutive district title with a slim victory over Berkeley Prep. Double winners Vinny Donnelly and Chris Swanson lead the Tigers. Donnelly posted the third-best qualifying time in the 200 free and fourth in the 500 free. Swanson has the third-best time in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 breaststroke. ... Berkeley Prep's boys 200 medley relay team of Kyle Dent, Andreas Hatoum, Sam Bobo and Zack Bandes have the second-best qualifying time. Dent also leads all divers in the region as the only one to score over 500 points at the district meet. ... Laura Jordan leads the Berkeley Prep girls team with the second-best qualifying times in the 50 free and 100 fly. Tampa Prep's Grace Fredlake has the top qualifying time in the 200 individual medley and second-best 500 free time. ... District champion Academy of the Holy Names is led by Molly Sheridan and Paige Russell.

Katherine Smith

REGION SWIMMING

Share this:

* To:
Your Name:
Your Email Address:
Personal Message [optional]: