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Dragons Roar Into Regionals

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

The girls get off to a quick start at the beginning of the individual medley event during Wednesday's District 5 meet at the Rowdy Gaines pool in Winter Haven.

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By MARK PINSON Highlands Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 31, 2008

WINTER HAVEN - Despite windy conditions and brutally cold weather, the Lake Placid swimming and diving teams made quite a splash at the Class 1A-District 5 meet at the Rowdy Gaines pool in Winter Haven on Wednesday.

Lake Placid was paced by sophomore Kevin Smit, who won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:19.59, placed second in the 100 butterfly in 59.81, and teamed with Dylan Weber-Callahan, Michael Trujillo and Robert Greene to win the 200 medley relay in 1:56.46.

The quartet of Smit, Callahan, Greene and Edwin Velazquez combined to win the 400 free relay in 3:45.09.

"I did my best in some tough conditions," said Smit. "It was cold and that affected our times, but we qualified for regionals and that's all that matters."

The Green Dragon boys finished first in the 11-team meet with 401 points, while Hardee placed second with 369, All Saints Academy came in third at 283, while Lakeland Christian finished fourth with 209. Winning the district championship was a pleasant surprise for Lake Placid coach Tom Creel.

"We had a good day," said the Green Dragon coach. "I'm extremely pleased with our performance especially when you consider how young our team is.

"We knew it would be close with Hardee for the district title because they have a lot of experienced swimmers, but we came in, lowered our times and did what we needed to do."

Weber-Callahan, a sophomore, won the 200 freestyle in 2:06.88 and placed second in the 100 backstroke with a 1:09.20, while Greene came in third in the 50 free in 23.93 and placed second in the 100 free in 54.11.

Velazquez qualified for regionals in the diving competition with a score of 292.55, and paired with Patrick Kimrey, Jerquaid Quinn and Trujillo to finish third in the 200 free relay.

Trujillo placed second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.53 and Kevin Nguyen came in third with a 1:15.27.

Mark Greenhauer qualified for regionals in the diving event with 293.33.

Avon Park, which finished 10th with 106 points in the boys competition, was led by John Chittum, who won the diving competition with 373 points, while Red Devil Tyler King qualified in the 200 freestyle with a 2:33.04 and Mitchell Guerndt qualified in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:21.70.

Lake Placid finished third in the girls competition with 373 points, while Lakeland Christian came in first with 463, All Saints placed second at 388 and Hardee took fourth with 251.

Tammi Beach led the Green Dragons with a first in the 200 freestyle in 2:15.52, the junior speedster placed second in the 100 freestyle in 1:01.24 and teamed with Rachel Cope, Marbelly Creel and Cherish McByer to finish second in the 200 medley relay.

"I feel pretty good about my performance," said Beach. "My times weren't as low as I would like, but this wasn't the best day to swim.

"I didn't make it to state last year in any events, but I think I have a chance to qualify in the 100 freestyle at regionals if I stay focused and swim my race."

Creel finished third in the 100 butterfly in 1:13.30, third in the 200 individual medley in 2:41.82 and paired with Shannon Cummings, McByer and Beach to place second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:54.46.

Cope came in fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:22.71 and teamed up with Cummings, Renee Michaud and Sonja Mensching to take second in the 400 freestyle relay in 4:33.91.

Cummings, a freshman, won the girls diving competition with 254.10 points, while Avon Park's Jamie Wirries came in fifth with 219.40.

Cummings does not advance to the regionals because a minimum score of 280 was required to advance to next week's competition.

The regional meet will be held next Saturday at Trinity Prep in Orlando.

"We couldn't have done better," said Coach Creel. "I'm so proud of the kids for the way they stayed focused and stepped up when it mattered.

"We're going to train hard to get ready for next week's regional meet because we know the competition will be even tougher."

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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