Last Saturday, the Mary Persons High School swim team traveled to Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross to compete at the Holiday Invite. Although a few team members were absent due to the ACT and Honor Band auditions, the remaining swimmers competed very well.
The boys’ team began the meet with the 200 Medley Relay; they had to swim exhibition since they only had three team members requiring one to swim twice. Even with this, they swam a personal best relay time with an improvement of 4.5 seconds. Later in the meet, they swam the 200 yard Freestyle Relay as an exhibition. Again, they posted a best relay time with an improvement of nearly 4 seconds.
Individually, the boys’ team posted time improvements and top placements in events. Matthew Biers swam personal best times in both his individual events. He improved his 50 Freestyle by 2.85 seconds with a time of 29.87 and his 100 Freestyle by 4.0 seconds with a time of 1:10.27. Cason Cole swam a personal best time (3:07.50) in his 200 Individual Medley race improving by 3.81 seconds. Isaac McKallip not only swam a personal best time but he also qualified for the State Championships in February in his first individual event. In the 100 yard Backstroke, McKallip broke the one minute mark with a time of 58.59 with a 1.49 second time improvement. He is close to his second State Qualifying time in the 100 yard Breaststroke.
The girls also swam extremely well with several personal best times and a new State Qualifying time. Since the girls’ B-relay team only had three team members, they swam exhibition races in both the 200 yard Medley Relay and the 200 yard Freestyle Relay.. The girls’ A-relay team swam both the 200 yard Medley and the 400 yard Freestyle Relay. In the 400 yard Freestyle Relay, the team posted a best time of 4:00.35 which was an improvement of 3.61 seconds. The relay team members were Campbell Atkinson, Abbey Stembridge, Alanna Wood and Maela McKallip.
In the individual races, Maela McKallip led the girls team with two first place finishes and two personal best times in both the 100 yard Butterfly (1:00.49) and the 100 yard Freestyle (53.77). Abbey Stembridge swam her first State Qualifying time in the 100 yard Breaststroke (1:14.86). Also swimming personal best times were Alanna Wood in both the 200 yard Individual Medley (2:30.78) and the 100 yard Breaststroke (1:17.11); Olivia Tanner in the 50 yard Freestyle (28.76) and the 100 yard Backstroke (1:13.63); Kailee Ray in the 100 yard Breaststroke improving by 1.84 seconds; and Leilani Hichkad in her 100 yard Freestyle with a time improvement of .79 seconds.
The swimmers are looking forward to their next meet this Saturday, December 17, at the Cherokee Aquatic Center. Come support the Mary Persons Swim Team!
