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TFS varsity swim team shines at state
Varsity swim team members competed at the state level on Feb. 4-5, traveling to the McAuley Natatorium at Georgia Tech for the GHSA 1A-5A State Championship.
Fourteen Tallulah Falls School swimmers competed with the top athletes from across the state, all of whom had qualifying standards to race in individual and relay events. According to coach Susan Nichols, a new scoring process added challenge to eligibility criteria.
“The scoring process allows 1A size schools to compete with only 1A-3A schools for team points, as compared to prior years where 1A schools competed against all classifications up to 5A size schools,” Nichols said. “This allowed TFS swim team to be competitive like never before."
The meet follows a preliminaries/finals format where all qualifiers race in their respective events on Friday evening with the top 30 moving on to the finals which are raced on Saturday evening. TFS qualified in 16 events with nine student-athletes advancing to the finals.
The women’s team placed 12th in a field of 46 teams in the 1A-3A classification. The relay races were the highlight as four fierce TFS swimmers, juniors Virginia Griswold, Norah Griswold, freshman Maggie Jackson and sophomore Reid Kafsky, all of Clarkesville, raced to a new school record time of 1:44.92 in the 200-yard freestyle relay for a 5th place finish.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay the team of Virginia Griswold, freshman Gianna Diaz, Norah Griswold, and Kafsky raced to an eighth-place finish with a time of 3:57.85.
In individual races, Virginia Griswold swam an impeccable butterfly race during prelims and came back to race again at finals to place seventh with a time of 1:02.27.
Kafsky placed 12th in the 50-yard freestyle in the finals after breaking the school record for the second time this year during preliminaries with a time of 25.44.
Sophomore Sarah Edwards of Sautee-Nacoochee raced on the 200-yard freestyle relay team serving a vital role in qualifying the team for the finals, Nichols said.
The men’s team placed 13th in the 1A-3A division. “Again, the relay races were the highlight of the meet,” Nichols said.
The men’s A medley relay team of junior Nick Stelmack of Toccoa, sophomores Hunter Weyrich of Alto, John Nichols of Clarkesville and Riley Barron of Roswell placed seventh during finals, after setting a new school record during prelims of 1:39.61.
“The B 200-yard freestyle relay team of sophomores Caden Griffis of Martin, Chris Geiger of Sautee-Nacoochee, Samuel Dunlap of Lakemont and Barron proved to themselves how they can achieve their target when they trust their training and work together,” Nichols said. “The boys posted a season’s best time for their relay team with 1:39.42.”
The A relay team of Nichols, Barron, Griffis and Weyrich placed seventh with a time of 3:29.17. Individual race highlights are Hunter Weyrich placing 14th in the 500-yard freestyle and 16th in the 200-yard individual medley. Nichols placed 13th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.29.
To view results, click here.