Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012

Wins carry Garner this time

Trojans repeat as conference swimming champions

Garner won the Greater Neuse River 4A girls' swimming championship again, with a little more emphasis this time.

The Trojans, who won the championship last season despite not coming in first in a single event, won four individual titles and swept the three relays Saturday at the Smithfield Recreation and Aquatics Center to amass 433 points to 312 for East Wake.

East Wake's Savannah Phillips, who won both the 200-yard individual medley (2:34.35) and 100 backstroke (1:08.78), was named the outstanding swimmer.

Phillips said she was pleased with both her swims and her team's solid finish. "It was a really good meet for me," she said. "I had really good times and I was proud of my team. I was glad we stepped up the way we did. I didn't get my personal best in my backstroke, but I did in my IM so I was happy about that. "

Clayton finished in third place with 265 points, just ahead of the 264.5 from fourth-place Knightdale. West Johnston finished with 224 points, Harnett Central 119.5, Smithfield-Selma 79 and Southeast Raleigh had four.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic," Garner coach Tad Berube said. "The team swam awesome. We pulled together and did what we needed to do. Probably 90 percent of the swimmers had their personal bests."

The Trojans' individual wins came from four different swimmers. Jessica Martin (28.51) took the 50 freestyle, Lindsay Wright in the 100 butterfly (1:12.02), Natalie Buitrago in the 100 freestyle (1:01.92) and Emily Martin in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.66).

"I think I did pretty well," said Emily Martin, who was a part of all three relays and had a personal best time in the breaststroke. "We were really good as a team, and the way we swam in the relays was very important to the way we won."

Brittany Talbot and Kendall Nelms finished second and third, respectively, for West's girls in the 100 butterfly. Nelms also ran second in the 500 (6:23.19).

Christine Henry, also of West, took second in the 200 individual medley at 2:36.69.