Sports Editor

The Starr's Mill Panther swim team traveled to Rockdale

this past Saturday to take on Rockdale and Holy Innocents. They

would have won both the boys and girls matches if the boys relay

team was able to participate. It was reported that four members

missed a practice last week and had to sit out. There were some

good performances though, especially from freshman Michael

Powers. Powers has been consistently dropping time in this, his first

season swimming competitively. He was named Athlete of the

Week for Starr's Mill this week as well. In the meet on Saturday, he

broke a minute in the 100 free. Both Powers and captain Will

Hardison are on the verge of qualifying for the state meet, with the

county championship this Wednesday as their last opportunity of the

season to do so. David Fuhrman dropped four seconds off of

his time in the 400 free.

The girls took first place at the meet and won every event.

Their relay team dropped five seconds off of their time in the 400

relay. Carly Petriucia dropped four seconds off of her time in the

200 free and broke the seven minute mark for the first time in the

500 free. Krista Ulrich swam an excellent breaststroke for her

first time swimming it in competition and Caitlin Mills shaved

three seconds off of her time in the 100 free. The Panthers now must

prepare to face some tough competition in the county

championships. The meet was originally going to be held on Friday,

Feb. 5 but a USS meet in Savannah would prevent several

swimmers from making the meet. It will now be held at 5:30 p.m. at the

Kedron Aquatic Center in Peachtree City. McIntosh is the favorite to

win but all of the other schools: Fayette County, Sandy Creek

and Starr's Mill, have strong , competitive swimmers.

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