The 2015 Alabama State High School Swimming & Diving State Championships ran Friday to Saturday this weekend at Auburn University’s James E. Martin Aquatic Center in Auburn, AL and featured more than a few record breaking performances. Auburn High School and Bob Jones High School both had strong performances to take the respective girls and boys team titles. Read below for full recaps of the girls and boys meets along with a link to final meet results at the bottom of the page.
The Auburn High School girls team captured their third team title in three years this past weekend. While they started off with a tough DQ in the 200 medley relay, the girls were able to rally and capitalize on their strong prelims performances and dominant relays to capture the team title. While Auburn only had one individual winner with Hadley Dowdle in the 100 freestyle (50.77), they took home two relay titles to carry momentum through the meet and score big points. The biggest difference maker for Auburn was their depth: the girls had a swimmer appear in the A and B finals of several events, bringing in consistent points throughout the meet.
En route to their win Auburn had two relays claim state titles while breaking state records in the process. The team of Maggie Casey, Annie Frances Dallas, Peyton Dowdle, and Anna Kate McGinty was the first to break the state record in the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.27). The oldest swimmer on that relay was only a sophomore, so expect those ladies to look to take that record lower in the years to come. Individual 100 free champion Hadley Dowdle then joined her sister Peyton Dowdle along with teammates McAuley Parker and Anna Kate McGinty to post a state record 3:31.39 in the 400 freestyle relay. Again, this is a young relay with two sophomores, a junior, and an eighth grader, so expect these four to continue to push this relay record over the next few years.
While Auburn chipped away at the team title several other state records also came down during the meet. Ums Wright junior Paige Madden crushed the state record in the 200 free with a 1:48.39, beating the old record of 1:49.97 by over 1.5 seconds. Altamont’s Anna-Julia Kutsch also tied the state record in the 50 freestyle with her 23.09. Madden also had a near miss of the state record with a 4:53.77 win in the 500 freestyle, while Spain Park junior Rachel Cunningham came close to state record in both the 100 breaststroke (1:02.63) and the 200 IM (2:04.44).
Other event winners included Grissom’s 200 medley relay (Mary Northcutt, Alison Hu, Jia Jia Hen, and Chloe Hui), Prattville’s Dalton Chambliss in the 100 butterfly (55.52), and Vestavia Hills’ Anna Moers in the 100 backstroke (55.60).
Girls – Team Scores
1. Auburn High School 234
2. Huntsville High School 180
3. McGill-Toolen Catholic High 164
4. Bob Jones High School 142
5. Grissom High School 133
While the Auburn girls chipped away at the point total through relay wins and depth in individual events, Bob Jones High School did it in a bit more dominant fashion, winning seven total events (five individual, two relay) en route to their team title over Auburn High School.
The Bob Jones boys started the finals session off right with a state record in 200 medley relay, as the team of Mark Johnson, Andrew Sterns, Andrey Tretyakov, and Derek Sander won in 1:34.52 to win the event by over three seconds. The team then rode off the momentum from that relay, with Tretyakov and Sander both following up with double individual wins of their own.
Sander returned to the pool to win the 200 freestyle in 1:38.31, a bit off his 1:37.67 from the morning but still in a dominant three second win over second place. The senior returned to the pool later in the 100 freestyle, this time setting a state record in 44.60 with another dominant swim.
Tretyakov also had two wins and state records of his own. The first came in the 200 IM, where the junior touched in 1:49.88 to win by over three seconds. He returned shortly after to record a huge drop from his 50.90 prelim swim in the 100 butterfly to go 48.07 and just get by Will Glass’ state record of 48.21.
Sander and Tretyakov then went 4-4 on event wins when they joined Andrew Sterns and Logan Black for a victory and state record in the 200 freestyle relay (1:23.57). Sterns then went on won the 100 breaststroke in 58.02.
Other event winners included James Clemens’ junior Andrew Shea in the 50 freestyle (21.02), Bairwood Christian’ Sadler McKeen in the 500 freestyle (4:31.22), St. Paul junior James Courtney in the 100 backstroke (49.89), and then Auburn High School 400 freestyle relay of Daniel Padgett, Brady Stabler, Garrison Chandler, and Connor Duggan (3:12.49).
Boys – Team Scores
1. Bob Jones High School 274
2. Auburn High School 213
3. James Clemens High School 187
4. McGill-Toolen Catholic High 170
5. Huntsville High School 169
