The James River High School boys were sixth and the girls were 16th at the state Class 1 & 2 swim meet at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center on Saturday. The Radford boys and Glenvar girls, both Three Rivers District rivals of River, won state championships.
The boys meet started at 1 p.m. and River got off to a fast start, finishing 5th in the 200 Medley Relay while cutting four seconds off their relay time to finish in 1:59. 55 seconds. The same relay team of Nathan Etzler, Isaac Bell, Walker Wilson and Dillon Minnix would go on to finish 5th in the 200 Free Relay later on in the meet with a team relay best time of 1:44.86.
In individual events, senior co-captain Minnix finished 5th in the 50 Free with a time of 25.19 and 10th in the 100 Free with a time of 57.78. Wilson, a first time state swimmer, finished 12th in the 50 Free with a time of 26.85 and 9th in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:07.67.
Junior co-captain Etzler would go on to place 5th in the 100 Free with a time off 54.49 and 3rd overall in the 100 Backstroke with a personal best time of 1:02.21. Bell, a senior, had an awesome day with three personal bests, including two best times in the relays and a third one in the 100 Breaststroke, finishing 10th overall with a time of 1:22.7 seconds.
The girls hit the pool at 6:15 p.m. and had four members compete at the State Meet. Co-captain seniors Sydney Wilson and Ellie Holter competed for their last time in high school swimming and Sydney would go on to place 9th in the 200 IM in a time of 2:35.41 and 5th in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:06.37.
Wilson teamed up with Holter, sophomore Kaylee Cox and sophomore Norah Jones to place 6th overall in the 400 Free Relay with a time of 4:39.1. The relay team dropped three seconds to earn 6th place medals.
