St. Stephens sweeps Catawba County swimming titles

St. Stephens High’s swimmers dethroned defending champion Hickory on Tuesday night, sweeping boys’ and girls’ titles in the second annual Catawba County Championship meets at the Hickory YMCA.

St. Stephens finished atop the girls’ standings with 210 points, five in front of second-place Hickory (205) and 15 points ahead of third-place Fred T. Foard (195).

On the boys’ side, the Indians finished with 213 points followed by Fred T. Foard in second with 193 and Hickory in third with 188.

“I am so proud of everyone,” said St. Stephens head coach LeeAnn Privett. “We weren’t expecting to win either one.

“We didn’t think we won the girls and didn’t think we had a shot in the boys. We just swam really good.”

The St. Stephens and Hickory girls relied on numbers for strong finishes. Both teams had eight swimmers finish in the top three in individual events.

Hickory won two relays (200 freestyle, 400 freestyle) and added a third-place finish in another, and St. Stephens had one win (200 medley) and two second-place finishes in relays.

Individually, the Indians had three individual winners and added a second-place and four thirds. Hickory had three individual winners, four swimmers in second and one in third.

St. Stephens’ Marinela Procopii and Leah Watts of Fred T. Foard each won two individual events.

Procopii won the 100-yard freestyle in one minute, 3.49 seconds and also captured the 100-yard breast stroke in 1:15.03. Watts won the 200-yard IM in 2:20.62 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:19.99.

St. Stephens’ other individual win came from Jessica Burgess in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:04.15.

 “This was a team effort,” said Privett. “We had contributions from everyone.”

It was much the same story in the boys’ meet for the Indians. They had eight finishers in the top three with one first (400 freestyle) and a second in relay events.

Two boys’ swimmers won twice each, Sava Turcanu of St. Stephens and Stuart Williams of Hickory.

Turcanu won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:54.19 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:48.27, while Williams won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.07 and the 100-yard freestyle in 54.50.

CATAWBA COUNTY  SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

(Tuesday at Hickory YMCA)

GIRLS

Team scores:  1. St. Stephens 210; 2. Hickory 205; 3. Fred T. Foard 195; 4. Maiden 107; 5. Newton-Conover 106; 6. Bandys 104

Individual results (top three finishers)

200-yard medley relay: 1. St. Stephens 2:04.29; 2. Fred T. Foard 2:04.67; 3. Hickory 2:11.53

200-yard free: 1. Samantha Merta (H) 2:05.59; 2. Michaela Beatty (B) 2:07.34; 3. Sandy Alkoutami 2:23.67

200-yard IM: Leah Watts (FTF) 2:20.62; 2. Abigail McRea (H) 2:25.79; 3. Jessica Burgess (SS) 2:27.82

50-yard free: Janie Kennedy (H) 26.57; 2. Nanami Miyazaki (SS) 28.70; 3, Sierra Kincaid (FTF) 29.25

100-yard fly: Marinela Procopii (SS) 1:03.49; 2. Natalie Bolick (H) 1:08.38; 3. Abigail Lequire (N-C) 1:08.95

100-yard free: Abigail McRea (H) 59.16; 2. Kristen Consing (FTF) 1:00.90; 3. Lauren Madden (SS) 1:02.24

500-yard free: Leah Watts (FTF) 5:19.99; 2. Janie Kennedy (H) 5:20.87; 3. Michaela Beatty (B) 5:51.43

200-yard free relay: 1. Hickory 1:55.42; 2. St. Stephens 2:01.34; 3. Fred T. Foard 2:01.98

100-yard backstroke: Jessica Burgess (SS) 1:04.15; 2. Samantha Merta (H) 1:04.34; 3. Lauren Madden (SS) 1:13.41

100-yard breast: Marinela Procopii (SS) 1:15.03; 2. Kristen Consing (FTF) 1:19.68; 3. Natalie Bolick (H) 1:20.96

400-yard free relay: 1. Hickory 4:00.57; 2. St. Stephens 4:08.80; 3. Fred T. Foard 4:13.66

BOYS

Team scores:  1. St. Stephens 213; 2. Fred T. Foard 193; 3. Hickory 188; 4. Newton-Conover 147; 5. Maiden 102; 6. Bandys 88

Individual results (top three finishers)

200-yard medley relay: 1. Fred T. Foard 1:55.24; 2. St. Stephens 1:57.69; 3. Hickory 1:59.88

200-yard free: 1. Sava Turcanu (SS) 1:54.19; 2. Sami Alkoutami (SS) 1:59.01; 3. Gideon Vaughan (B) 2:19.31

200-yard IM: Jake Pierce (FTF) 2:08.23; 2. Collin Danner (SS) 2:28.84; 3. Jonathan Brown (B) 2:32.23

50-yard free: Stuart Williams (H) 24.07; 2. Jansen Cole (FTF) 25.12; 3. Michael O’Boyle (N-C) 25.22

100-yard fly: Sami Alkoutami (SS) 59.83; 2. Jansen Cole (FTF) 1:04.80; 3. Michael Atkinson (N-C) 1:07.40

100-yard free: Stuart Williams (H) 54.50; 2. Connor Pilgrim (H) 57.96; 3. Alex Ivanov (SS) 58.23

500-yard free: Sava Turcanu (SS) 4:48.27; 2. Jake Pierce (FTF) 4:50.19; 3. Ryan Ferner (H) 6:05.78

200-yard free relay: 1. Newton-Conover 1:45.10; 2. Fred T. Foard 1:50.07; 3. Hickory 1:52.21

100-yard back: 1. Collin Danner (SS) 1:07.61; 2. Connor Pilgrim (H) 1:11.64; 3. Michael Atkinson (N-C) 1:12.60

100-yard breast: Milan Buescher (H) 1:16.65; 2. Alex Ivanov (SS) 1:19.45; 3. Gideon Vaughan (B) 1:21.59

400-yard free relay: 1. St. Stephens 3:44.95; 2. Fred T. Foard 3:54.70; 3. Hickory 3:58.46