Lake Placid Leaps In With Avon Park

The Lake Placid swim team had four members win multiple events on Tuesday as the Green Dragons defeated a shorthanded Avon Park squad in boys and girls competitions.

"I thought we did really well and I'm pretty excited," said Lake Placid swim coach Tom Creel. "Our experienced swimmers are staying on track and working on getting their conditioning in shape.

"Our whole goal is to have a season that lets us train and get competitive so we can have a strong showing at districts and regionals."

Lake Placid's Alexa Murray won the 200-meter freestyle in 2:35.06 and mixed 500-free in 7:00.25, while Kevin Smit won the 200 IM in 2:31.83 and the 100-yard butterfly 1:08.54. Tammi Beach, meanwhile, won the 100 free in 28.92, and the 50-free in 1:01.78, while Robert Greene won the 50 free in 24.89 and 100 free in 1:01.16.

Avon Park won the diving events, getting solid scores from Jamie Wirries in the 1-meter dive and top finishes from Pablo Pantoja (149.25) and John Chittum (146.10) on the boys side.

"We have a small squad, and we knew going into the meet that we didn't have the numbers that Lake Placid has," said Avon Park swim coach Shane Wirries. "But we had quite a few good performances."

Lake Placid's Marbelly Creel won 100 butterfly in 1:16.40, while Dylan Weber-Callahan won 100 yard back in 1:19.85, Rachel Cope won the girls 100 breast in 1:27.72, and Michael Trujillo took the boys 100 breast in 1:18.96.

The Avon Park boys were most competitive in the 200 free, where they had top finishes from Drew Sedlock (2:37) and teammate Nolan Jahna, who swam a 2:44.90. Brittany Murphy, meanwhile, won the girls 100 back in 1:20.71.

On relays, LP won the girls and boys 200 medley relays, along with the boys and girls 400 free relays. AP took the boys and girls 200-free relays.

"We have a young squad that's working hard to improve," Shane Wirries said. "It's exciting to work with them."

Creel, whose team travels to Okeechobee for a meet today, agreed.

"It's nice to have a win with a rebuilding team," he said. "It's always good motivation for practice."

The Devils are back in the pool on Saturday at the Florida Southern Classic.