Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2012

Rams take third in league

Cleveland swim team shines

cbest@newsobserver.com

Cleveland's girls and South Johnston boys swim teams brought home third place finishes respectively from the Eastern Carolina 3A Conference championships Tuesday from the Goldsboro YMCA.

C.B. Aycock swept the team titles. Aycock totaled 179 points on the boys' side, 45 ahead of Triton. South Johnston was third with 63, followed by Cleveland (46), Eastern Wayne (31) and Southern Wayne (27).

South's 400-yard freestyle relay team finished third in 4:38.42. J.P. Strickland, Davon Draughon, Garrett Johnson and Brantley Tart made up the quartet for the Trojans.

Strickland and Johnson also finished third in indivudal events: Johnson in the 50 free at 28.32 seconds and Strickland in the 500 at 7:02.25.

Cleveland swimmer Patrick Martin had a pair of top finishes. He was second in the 100 butterfly in 1:08.78 and placed third in the individual medley at 2:35.08.

Bryan Gilmore, also of Cleveland, brought home third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:22.99, nearly six seconds better than his previous best on the season.

The Rams' girls team totaled 107 points in the meet. Aycock led the way with 164, followed by Triton at 111. Eastern Wayne was third (93), followed by Southern Wayne (18) and South Johnston (17).

March Petzinger and Katie Griffith both had busy days for Cleveland. Both swam on the Rams' 200 free and 200 medley relay squads. The 200 free team, which also included Brianna Taylor and Kayla Dean, was second in 2:01.64.

The medley relay team with Amber Reese, Traynor, Griffith and Petzinger was third in the meet (2:21.26).

Petzinger finished second individually in the 100 breaststroke (1:21.42) and 500 free (6:25.97). Griffith placed third in the butterfly (1:21.41) and the individual medley (2:54.9).

Dean added a runner-up swim in the 50 free (30.08) to Cleveland's tally, while Reese finished third in the backstroke (1:22.32).

Lindsay Smith picked up South Johnston's lone top-three finish in a girls event. She was second in the 200 freestyle (2:33.13). Smith also placed sixth in the 500 freestyle.