Swim Devils make 7 state finals

Published 12:00 pm Sunday, February 5, 2023

ATLANTA — Tift County swim teams advanced to seven finals at the Georgia High School Association state meet Friday, Feb. 3 at Georgia Tech as the Lady Devils finished 15th.

Three Lady Devils relay squads made it, Kendall Sasser, Brynna Burke, Ava Wilson and Anna Lupo in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and Raylee Walker, Raegin Walker, Brianna Domagala and Leighlynn Bengston in the 200 medley relay.

Wilson, Lupo and Burke all had individual finals at well, the 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle, respectively.

Hayden Roberts made it to the finals in the 200 individual medley for the Blue Devils.

“We had overall a great day,” said head coach Ivey Vickers on Saturday. “Can’t ask for anything else.” The team had not long arrived back from Atlanta after a very long Friday competing. Warm-ups had begun at 7 a.m., with the finals still going at 9 p.m.

The Lady Devils accumulated 75 points for the meet. Lassiter won at 486. Tift was the top finisher of teams outside the Metro Atlanta area. Only six schools not within its geography pointed at all at the girls meet. Region rival Lee County finished 22nd with 32 points.

Lupo placed 8th in the butterfly, setting a new school record under Vickers in the process. Her time was 58.59 seconds, edging Kirsten Murphy’s 59.91 seconds set in 2019. Lupo shaved nearly a second off her preliminary time.

“Lupo did a great job last night setting the school record,” Vickers said.

Burke earned 14th in the 500 freestyle, speeding to the finish line in 5:25. Wilson was 14th in the 100 breaststroke at 1:12.

Sasser, Burke, Wilson and Lupo placed 11th in the 200 freestyle in 1:45 and 13th in the 400 freestyle. Their time in the 400 was 3:49.

The 200 medley relay, first to compete in the championships, finished their race in 2:03 for 17th place. This was one better than their preliminaries finish, which was 18th.

Roberts was 20th in the individual medley. He had qualified for the championship in the same position.

Also competing in the preliminaries were Burke in the 200 freestyle, Roberts in the 100 butterfly, and Lupo in the 100 backstroke.

The team of Karson Ponder, Tucker Dowdy, Ethan Stalnaker and Roberts barely missed a chance to compete in the finals, finishing 22nd in the preliminary.

“[We’ll] go back to work and get busy for next year,” Vickers said. Tift will return many of the state finalists from the girls team, but Vickers said she might be walking the hallways at TCHS to recruit for the boys. Roberts, Dowdy and Alex Shepherd are among the graduates.

The season was a fun one, Vickers said

“I really enjoyed being around this group of kids, and the coaches,” she said. Teresa Walker, Kristin McElroy and Caleb Dawson assist the squad. “I’m very lucky to have them.

Vickers also thanked Tift County Recreation Department and Tift County Schools’ administration for helping make a home base for them. The Baldwin Drive Aquatic Center is personalized with Blue Devils logos on the blocks and new electronic equipment allowed them to host the Region 1-6A meet, even though the pool is outdoors.