Starr's

Mill High School's boys swim team placed 12th overall at

the state swim meets last weekend.

Fayette

County sent several qualifiers to the meets. The AAAA

meet was in Savannah, while the AAA-AA-A meets were at

Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville. Though the

teams did not produce any overall wins, a few individuals

and relay teams made a splash.

Starr's

Mill's placed at the AAA-AA-A meet, thanks to points

scored by senior Aaron Wilson. Wilson returned to

swimming this year and has had his share of injuries to

contend with. He was out for several weeks in December

due to injuries sustained in a car accident and then he

injured his hand in a PE class in January. Despite the

adversity, Wilson has won key events all year and has set

a new county record this year (:23.31 in the 50-yard

freestyle in the county championship).

At

Riverside, Wilson placed third in the 50-yard freestyle

with a time of :22.45. He finished fourth in the 100-yard

breaststroke, 0.12 of a second away from a second place

finish, and led his 200-yard medley and 200-yard

freestyle relay teams to 11th place finishes. The

200-yard medley team consists of Wilson, Kenny Jubb, Will

Hardison and Brett Stevens, while the 200-yard freestyle

team is made up of Hardison, Wilson, Stevens and Brian

Pankopp.

The Lady

Panthers left their mark at the meet as well. Senior

Jessica Betts finished ninth in the 100-yard backstroke

(1:04.86). The 200-yard medley relay team of Bridget

Machovev, Mickey Homerding, Laural Surratt and Betts swam

a 2:08.99 in the preliminaries.

For

McIntosh, junior Molly MacGregor finished in eighth place

in the 50-yard freestyle, which is the fastest event in

swimming. It was the highest ranking women's finish in

school history. MacGregor also scored points in the

100-yard freestyle, finishing 13th. By scoring in the two

events, MacGregor set another school and women's

countywide first.

McIntosh

had a few other people place and score points at the

meet. Senior Becky Brokish placed 16th in the 500-yard

freestyle, while sophomore Annya Lee placed 15th in the

100-yard butterfly. Senior captain Chris Jobson placed

18th in the 100-yard breaststroke and 24th in the

individual medley.

The high

school swimming season may be over, but many of the

county's top swimmers swim year round for club teams. The

teams should return with strong squads again next year.