Central boys win county title

Tue. December 20, 2011 at 11:00 p.m. | By Jason Queen

Logan Hammond of Central Davidson swims to a win in the men's 50-yard freestyle final heat Tuesday during the Davidson County swimming championship at Winston-Salem State University. (Photo by Donnie Roberts/The Dispatch)

WINSTON-SALEM | Picking up individual victories is nice.

Putting two or three swimmers in the top five wins championships.

Central Davidson’s boys and North Davidson’s girls proved that Tuesday night in the Davidson County swimming championship meet at the Gaines Center on the campus of Winston-Salem State University. Central’s boys took advantage of one or two chinks in the Knights’ armor, and North’s girls simply dominated from start to finish.

“In the later events, we played our relays out to where we knew we’d score some points,” Central coach Chad Hench said. “We did really well in the last two individuals, the back stroke and the breast stroke. The breast stroke really gave us a nice comfortable margin.”

And that small cushion was just enough. Connor Sturgill finished fifth in the 100 back to ensure the Spartans didn’t lose too much ground to North, which got a third-place finish from Brady Whicker. And Jonathan Hench, the coach’s son, finished second in the 100 breast, picking up a handful of points on North after a fifth-place finish from Matthew Warrick.

Other than that, the meet was nearly a dead heat. Central won with a score of 269, nudging North (258), West Davidson (200.5), Ledford (199), Lexington (159.5) and East Davidson (81).

Central started off on a strong note, winning the 200 medley relay (Lucas Rhodes, Hench, Sturgill and Logan Hammond) in a photo finish. The Spartans won with a time of 1:49.85, inching past North (1:49.90). Rhodes then finished second to Lexington’s Adam Wetherell in the 200 free, setting up an impressive individual performance from North’s Sam Day. Day romped to a win in the 200 individual medley, but Hammond countered with a big win in the 50 free. Ledford’s Gage Setzer broke the North and Central stronghold with a win in the 100 butterfly, but Sturgill finished second to extend Central’s lead. Moments later, Lexington’s Cole Riggan took the 100 free but again, Hammond picked up a second place. With the meet still very much in doubt, Day outlasted Rhodes to win the 500 free to pump some life into the North squad.

“The 500’s usually one of my stronger events, but when I swam it earlier this year it was against a team we felt like we had pretty well, so I wasn’t swimming as hard as I can,” said Day, who trimmed 18 seconds off his personal best time in the young high school season. “I was happy with that race. It wasn’t quite my best time, but I’ll take it.”

Lexington’s Griffin Gray, Patrick Dezego, Wetherell and Cole Riggan won the 200 free relay, but Central managed another runner-up spot and North slipped to fourth. Riggan won the 100 back for Lexington moments later, and Brady Whicker finished third for North. Sturgill came in fifth for the Spartans as North made up a little ground, but that trend reversed in the next race. Wetherell won the 100 breast, but Hench placed second and Warrick was fifth for the Knights, and that was all the cushion Central needed. Whicker, Jadd Smith, Warrick and Day won the 400 free relay in the last event, but Central’s second place finish in that event was more than enough to wrap up the team title.

With a solid first half of the season in the books, Chad Hench is excited about his team’s potential. “We just had some great individual performances,” the coach said. “This is probably the fastest meet I’ve seen on the boys’ side from the whole county, there were a lot of great times.

“We have a lot of swimmers who’ve worked real hard on their times this year, we’re so much better than we were last year.”
The girls’ meet lacked the drama of the boys’ meet, but that was just fine with North coach Brian Wells. In the events the Knights didn’t win, they consistently had two or three swimmers in the top five to rack up the points. The Knights finished second in the 200 medley relay, Savannah Johnston won the 200 free, Kaylyn Vaughan, Madison Wooten and Olivia Henderson finished 3-4-5 in the 200 IM, and Kacie Michael and Haley Pace were second and third in the 50 free. It was that kind of night for North.
“Our girls are deep,” Wells said. “It makes it tough on other teams. That’s how our season has been, even with the teams in our conference.

“But we’re still building, and we’re still young, which is nice.”

North won with a score of 324, followed by West (219), Ledford (195), Lexington and Central (each with 151), East (95) and South (57).

The Knights tacked on a win in the 200 free relay (Rachel Greene, Pace, Madison Wooten and Michael) and the 400 free relay (Johnston, Michael, Vaughan and Heather Coppley).

West picked up wins in the 200 medley relay (Taylor Blankenship, Grace Baird, Taylor Koonts and Katherine Fletcher), 100 free (Baird) and 500 free (Baird). Lexington’s Blythe Riggan won the 100 butterfly, East’s Marina Moore won the 50 free and 100 breast, South’s Haylie Moore won the 200 IM, and Ledford’s Caroline Klemme won the 100 back.

Jason Queen can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220 or jason.queen@the-dispatch.com.