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Sickles Boys Challenged In Win Against Newsome

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Conor Swanson won the 100-yard Butterfly for Sickles during a meet held at the Bob Sierra YMCA pool.

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By KATHERINE SMITH

ksmith@tampatrib.com

Published: October 8, 2008

TAMPA - The Sickles boys swim team has been looking for a challenge all season and they got a good one from Newsome Tuesday night.

The Gryphons edged Newsome, 95-81, in a tightly contested swim meet at the Bob Sierra YMCA.

"It was fun," Sickles coach Scott Parlett said. "It's really exciting and fun to get up and race somebody. I've been on both sides of the spectrum. I've coached teams that were the ones getting beat and I've been on the team where we're doing the beating.

"It's fun to go into a meet and not actually know what the outcome is going to be."

Newsome's Jason Taylor won two individual events, the 200 free and 100 backstroke, to help keep things interesting. But the difference for Sickles came in the 10th event of the evening, the 100-yard breaststroke.

Led by Conor Swanson, the Gryphons took the top three places to increase their slight lead before the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.

"That was our one-two-three punch," Parlett said. "The score of the meet was probably about a five-point difference up until the breaststroke. It could go either way and I thought the breaststroke was the clincher."

On the girls' side, Newsome avenged a loss to Sickles at the City Relays earlier in the season with a 109-76 victory. Mere points separated the two teams at the City Relays and that second-place finish was on the Newsome swimmers' minds.

"For the girls, yeah, they brought it," Newsome coach Chau Clark said. "This is bragging rights for them."

Led by Sharla Milne, who won two individual events (200 and 500 free) and who was the third leg on the winning 400 free relay team, the Wolves swept the final five events. Sickles' Katie Cook (50 and 100 free) took two of her teams four first-place finishes.

"They worked hard and they wanted this," Clark said. "They wanted the competition and not just against Sickles, but competition. We're looking at districts in a couple of weeks and we needed some fast swims."

Reporter Katherine Smith can be reached at (813) 731-8025.

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