JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s almost state championship time for area high school swimmers.
The area’s best shot for individual state champions comes in Saturday’s Class 4A meet at Sailfish Splash Waterpark and Aquatics Center in Stuart, where St. Johns County schools Bartram Trail, Creekside and Nease have a heavy presence of medal contenders on both the boys and girls sides.
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Creekside’s Dominic Miller is positioned well for a potential double-medal day in the Class 4A meet. Miller is seeded No. 1 in both the 50 and 100 free. The 50 free is loaded with locals, with five of the top six seeds occupied by area swimmers.
Nease’s Jonathan Kim is the No. 1 seed in the 100 breast, Atlantic Coast’s Jack Hall has a No. 2 seed in the 200 free and the Creekside 200 free and 200 medley relay teams are both seeded No. 1 and heavily favored.
Flagler Palm Coast’s Micayla Cronk, the reigning All-News4Jax swimmer of the year, and Creekside’s Brooke Arnold, are both state title contenders in the 200 free. Cronk is also favored in the 100 freestyle. She and Winter Park junior Lockett Bowley (No. 1 seed in 200 free, No. 2 in 100 free) should push one another for those events.
Nease’s Olivia Peoples set a state record in the 100 fly last year and enters that event as the No. 2 seed. She’ll look to defend her state title in the 100 breast.
Creekside swimmers Arnold (500 free), Jennifer Bird (100 back), Grace Gavin (100 back), Anna More and Madison Koutavas (both 100 breast) are all top-four seeds in those events. Bartram Trail diver Lauren Miller was third at state last year and enters this meet seeded No. 3.
In the Class 3A meet, Fleming Island swimmers headline the area contenders.
Maryn McDade is the No. 2 seed in the 50 free, and Emma Grimm is seeded third in the 100 breast and fourth in the 50 free. The Golden Eagles have the top 200 medley relay team.
A glance below at area qualifiers who are seeded 10th or better in their events. The Class 4A meet is Saturday and the Class 3A meet is Friday.
Class 4A
Girls
200 medley relay
3. Creekside; 4. Nease; 7. Bartram Trail.
200 freestyle
4. Micayla Cronk (Flagler Palm Coast); 5. Brooke Arnold (Creekside).
200 IM
4. Haley Harris (Bartram Trail).
50 freestyle
8. Reilly McCabe (Bartram Trail).
Diving
3. Lauren Miller (Bartram Trail); 5. Madison Price (Mandarin); 6. Tayler Graham (Sandalwood); 10. Madison Kellam (Creekside).
100 fly
2. Olivia Peoples (Nease); 5. Jennifer Bird (Creekside).
100 freestyle
1. Micayla Cronk (Flagler Palm Coast).
500 freestyle
4. Brooke Arnold (Creekside).
200 free relay
3. Creekside; 10. Nease.
100 back
2. Jennifer Bird (Creekside); 4. Grace Gavin (Creekside); 9. Allie Larrimore (Nease).
100 breast
1. Olivia Peoples (Nease); 3. Anna Moore (Creekside); 4. Madison Koutavas (Creekside); 10. Avery Dixon (Creekside).
400 free relay
2. Creekside.
Boys
200 medley relay
1. Creekside; 2. Bartram Trail; 5. Nease; 7. Atlantic Coast.
200 freestyle
2. Jack Hall (Atlantic Coast); 7. David Gapinski (Creekside); 8. Gage Hulbert (Mandarin).
200 IM
4. Jonathan Kim (Nease); 6. Raymond Prosinski (Bartram Trail); 10. Jacob Douberly (Creekside).
50 freestyle
1. Dominic Miller (Creekside); 3. Larry Salls (Sandalwood); 4. Rian Covington (Atlantic Coast); 5. Matthew Koziol (Nease); 6. Maguire McDuff (Bartram Trail).
Diving
4. Patrick Adams (Nease); 9. Aaron Storlie (Nease); 10. Sean Bilmez (Mandarin).
100 fly
1. Dominic Miller (Creekside); 2. Gage Hulbert (Mandarin); 6. Rian Covington (Atlantic Coast).
100 freestyle
3. David Gapinski (Creekside); 4. Larry Salls (Sandalwood); 7. Maguire McDuff (Bartram Trail).
500 freestyle
4. Aidan Henry (Creekside); 5. Jakob Brougham (Nease); 6. Jack Hall (Atlantic Coast); 8. Raymond Prosinski (Bartram Trail).
200 free relay
1. Creekside; 9. Nease.
100 back
4. Mason Campbell (Bartram Trail); 6. Jacob Douberly (Creekside).
100 breast
1. Jonathan Kim (Nease); 3. Nicholas Tayag (Bartram Trail); 8. Rich Nguyen (Nease); 9. Gary Shehu (Creekside); 10. Abdelrahman Shahin (Bartram Trail).
400 free relay
3. Bartram Trail; 10. Nease.
Class 3A
Girls
200 medley relay
1. Fleming Island.
50 free
2. Maryn McDade (Fleming Island); 4. Emma Grimm (Fleming Island).
100 fly
7. Christine Johnson (Fleming Island).
100 free
5. Maryn McDade (Fleming Island).
200 free relay
3. Fleming Island.
100 breast
3. Emma Grimm (Fleming Island); 4. Julia Sheffler (Fleming Island); 7. Grace Weed (St. Augustine).
400 free relay
7. Fleming Island.
Boys
200 medley relay
6. Fleming Island.
200 IM
6. Austin Wheeler (Fleming Island).
50 free
7. Alec Bilyeu (Fleming Island).
200 free relay 7. Fleming Island.
100 breast
6. Austin Wheeler (Fleming Island).