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Avon Park Freshman Nears Swimming Record

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park freshman Mitchell Guerndt competes in the 100-yard breastroke during Tuesday's meet against Hardee.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: October 9, 2008

AVON PARK - Red Devil freshman Mitchell Guerndt is inching closer to the school record of 1:12.09 in the 100-yard breaststroke set by Dale Heiring back in 1992 and says he won't stop until it has his name next to it.

"I've been working all year in the hopes of breaking it during my freshman season," Guerndt said. "I've had my sights set on that record and I have no doubts that I'll overtake it before I leave as a Red Devil."

The AP freshman took first place in the event (1:22.20) during Tuesday's Class 1A-District 5 dual meet against Hardee, over 10 seconds ahead of Hardee's Dustin Spears (1:32.57).

The 'Cats showed their continued improvement as a team, by dominating the meet with a combined score of 306 to 167.

Hard work has paid off for Guerndt, who has seen his time in the event drop nearly eight seconds since the beginning of the season.

"I think he's got the drive and the talent to break that record," Avon Park coach Quinlan Wolfe said. "But it's going to have to take a lot more hard work and hours in the pool to drop that kind of time."

Avon Park's Kyle Jahna took first place in the 100-yard backstroke (1:26.40) nearly five seconds ahead of Hardee's Lee Cortez (1:31.24) with Avon Park's Tanner Lee (1:35.01) rounding out the top three.

Red Devil diver John Chittum dominated the diving event, finishing with a score of 187.20, while freshman Jamie Wirries took first place in girls diving with a score of 147.70.

Wirries shocked even her coach by winning the diving competition at last weekend's Heartland Invitational and father and Avon Park dive coach Shane Wirries believes his daughter is on pace to be a state qualifier someday.

"I didn't expect her to win the Heartland and really saw that she has started to take that next step into becoming a serious diver," Coach Wirries said. "Right now, my goal for Jamie is to score 280 and advance to regionals her freshman season.

"But we're fighting through the mental blocks that you have to get through when you start adding dives with the level of difficulty needed to compete at the higher levels."

Wirries got some tough news for the Red Devil dive team, as Avon Park's Pablo Pantoja suffered an injury to his eardrum at the Heartland meet and is done for the season.

Avon Park's Brittany Murphy had a solid day in the pool, as she finished second (30.49) in the 50-yard freestyle and second (7:08.27) in the 500-yard freestyle and added another silver finish (2:10.85) as a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay team.

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or at choffman@highlandstoday.com.

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