Lord Botetourt and James River swimmers who qualified for state meets will be back in the pool this weekend for state competition as the winter season concludes.
The Class 3 meet, including Lord Botetourt, will be held at the Swim RVA Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Richmond on Friday, February 17. The Class 1 and 2 meet, including James River swimmers, is scheduled for the Christiansburg Aquatics Center on Saturday, February 18.
Both classes competed in region meets at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center last week. The Region 3D meet, with LB, was on Tuesday and the Lord Botetourt girls finished fourth as a team. Cave Spring won the region championship, followed by Hidden Valley and Christiansburg with the Botetourt girls just four points behind third place. William Byrd won the boys region championship.
“We had some great swims,” said LB coach Ashley Safrit. “I am always a little sad at Regions because it is the last time we are all together as a team in the pool.”
Junior Layne Jones had a big day in the water. She won the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:55.06 and the 100 Backstroke in 58.29 to advance to state in both events. She was also a member of two relay teams that advanced to the state meet. The 400 Free team of Jones, Sarah Frederickson, Olivia Nicely and Hannah Mizuba finished second and the foursome of Jones, Hattie Haggerty, Mizuba and Taylor Lisle was third.
Mizuba, a sophomore, also won two individual events in addition to swimming on the relay teams. She won both the 50 Free and the 100 Free.
LB had another relay team finish fourth, as the 200 Free team qualified for state with Grayson Alfano, Frederickson, Lisle and Nicely. They were originally fifth but the fourth place team had a swimmer who was deemed to have left early and was disqualified, moving the LB girls up to fourth and a trip to Richmond this week.
The Region 1C and 2C meet was Thursday at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center and James River had several swimmers move on to the state meet. Walker Wilson placed second in the 100 Butterfly and fourth in the 50 Free. He also joined Ethan Smith, Damien Mitchell and David Merritt for a fourth place finish in the 200 Free Relay to qualify for the state meet.