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Swimming: Wharton's Rees earns silver

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By KATHERINE SMITH

ksmith@tampatrib.com

Published: November 14, 2009

ORLANDO - Jordan Rees is known for his research.

In preparing for a race, he studies the background of every swimmer he's going up against. Long before Friday's Class 3A state meet, the Wharton senior sprinter predicted his specialty, the 50 freestyle, would come down to a faceoff between he and Miami Palmetto's Michael Saco.

Saco needed a state-record time of 20.11 to out-touch Rees, who was second with an automatic All-American time of 20.87.

"My best time is 20.60 so to come in here .27 off that time, I can't complain," said Rees, who was also fifth in the 100 free. "I've never been on the podium before, so this is pretty good. It feels good to look down and see that silver around my neck."

Rees' efforts, which included anchoring the fifth-place 400 free relay team, were good enough to help the Wildcats finish 13th in the team rankings with 61 points.

Plant's John Deedrick wanted a bronze medal in the 200 freestyle, and the senior did just that.

Seeded eighth in the 200 free heading into his first state meet, Deedrick had the second-best time after the preliminaries. Then in the finals, he dropped more than a second from his preliminary time with an automatic All-American time of 1:40.56.

"This feels pretty good," said Deedrick, who also finished fifth in the 500 free. "I was happy with the race and I did what I wanted and dropped time. I was a lot more calm during the prelims, but come finals, there's a bit more pressure. Once I got up on the block I was ready to race. I think I handled the pressure, though."

The Plant girls, third at last year's 2A meet, were the top Hillsborough County team with a ninth-place finish (94).

The Panthers discovered what a difference 3A swimming is when their 200 free relay team failed to make the finals in an event they won the gold medal in last year. They were seeded sixth entering Friday morning's preliminaries and finished in ninth place, one place out of the finals.

Plant did manage to earn a medal in the 400 free relay by finishing eighth in 3:38.41.

Panthers senior Elin Slaatmo, who swam the third leg of the 400 free relay, took fourth in the 500 free with an automatic All-American time of 4:54.64. Newsome's Kati Kyle also turned in an automatic All-American time of 56.73 in the 100 back, good for fourth.

Wharton's girls finished 12th (77.5) thanks to Blair Kuethe's seventh places in the 100 and 200 free and a fifth in the 200 free relay team, which Kuethe anchored.

Countryside's Melanie Margalis was the big winner on the girls side with a gold medal in the 500 free and a state record of 1:57.07 in the 200 individual medley. She also earned a gold medal in the 200 medley relay.

In boys diving, Bloomingdale's Nick Wing-Holt was sixth with a score of 458.05.

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