Gainesville area swimmers, divers to watch at FHSAA state meet this weekend in Stuart
The 3A FHSAA State Swimming and Diving Finals will be held Friday at the Sailfish Aquatic Center in Stuart
Preliminaries will start at 9 a.m. The top 16 marks in the relays and individual events will qualify for the finals session in the evening, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The top eight finishers will contest for medals in the A final and the next fastest eight, for points in the B final.
The top 24 divers will compete at 1:30 p.m. Each diver gets six dives, which are scored. The top scores are then awarded.
Here are Gainesville area swimmers to watch at the state competition.
Boys
200 Individual Medley
Michael Mullen, Gainesville High School Jr
Mullen comes in seeded #1 after winning the 3A R1 meet last week in a time of 1:50.43. His nearest competitor is Countryside senior Andrew Taylor who has a time of 1:51.28 this season. Taylor is the defending state champion and swam 1:48.88 last year.
Mullen was under the All American Consideration (AA-C) cutoff time of 1:51.52. This recognizes the top 8% of US high schoolers in each event.
He will have a chance to earn an All American Automatic (AA-A) mark if he swims under 1:49.41. This recognizes the top 2% of US high schoolers in each event.
Casey Whitaker, GHS, Fr
Whitaker knocked off nine seconds off his personal best to post the 24th seeded time of 2:04.06. It will be his first appearance at state.
100 Freestyle
Will Sammy, GHS, So
Sammy is seeded #4 after swimming 47.38 to finish second at the 3AR1 meet. He defeated last year’s state runner-up Ryder Gentry, Chiles by 0.05s.
The #1 seed is Matthew Koziol of Nease with a time of 46.97. Koziol finished 8th at the Class4A State champs last year in 46.88.
100 backstroke
Will Sammy, GHS, So
Sammy is seeded third with a time of 52.68 after finishing second at the 4AR1 meet. He was edged out by last year third placer, Nathan Castano, Chiles, 52.58.
Sebastian River senior Mitchell Ledford is the top seed with a time of 50.96. Ledford won the 100y Butterfly last year in 46.86.
Sammy was 12th at last year’s state final in a time of 54.27.
100 breaststroke
Michael Mullen, GHS, Jr
Mullen comes is seeded first with an AA-C time of 56.43 after winning the 3AR1 meet. The next fastest swimmer is Nease senior Rich Nguyen, who has a mark of 57.02. His time would have won last year’s state meet.
The AA-A standard for this event is 55.65.
Ian Disoway, Columbia, Fr
Disoway finished seventh at the 3AR1 meet in 1:01.76. He will be the 18th seed and look for a spot in the final session in the evening.
200 Freestyle Relay
Gainesville enters as the seventh seed after finishing third at the 3AR1 meet in 1:29.13. Michael Mullen (Jr), Will Sammy (So), Casey Whitaker (Fr), Jackson O’Neill (Sr) will try to better last year’s third-place finishing team, which clocked a 1:27.53. O’Neill is the only returning member from that team.
The #1 seed is Nease with a time of 1:26.57.
Girls
1 meter diving
Lilah Kage will make her second appearance at state after finishing second at the 3AR1 meet with 385.5 points. Kage, a Gainesville High sophomore, was fifth at last year’s state championships with a score of 383.65. She is seeded eighth this year.
The top seed is Kaitlyn Raby of St. Thomas Aquinas with a score of 495.55.
200 Medley Relay
GHS enters the meet as the 18th seed after finishing eighth at the 3AR1 meet in 1:58.24. Michelle Han (Sr), Stella Roberts (Jr), Morgan Follon-Hooghius (Jr) and Kara Walters (Fr) will try for a spot in Friday night’s finals. Last year, the Canes finished ninth in 1:52.54. Han is the lone returner from that team.
200 freestyle
Ava Fuller, So, GHS
Fuller enters as the 22nd seed after finishing eighth at the 3AR1 meet in a personal best 1:59.28. This will be her second appearance at state and first as an individual. Last year’s 400 freestyle relay team was disqualified for an early take off.
The top seed in the event is Countryside senior Summer Caldwell who has a mark of 1:51.15.
100 Butterfly
Michelle Han, GHS, Sr
Michelle Han enters as the 23rd seed after finishing fifth at the 3AR1 meet in a time of 1:01.47. Has finished 22nd last year in a time of 1:00.30.
200 Freestyle Relay
The Canes enter with the 13th seeded time of 1:43.79 after finishing sixth at the 3AR1 meet last week. Morgan Follon-Hooghius (Jr), Michelle Han (Sr), Stella Roberts (Jr), and Layla Canales\ (Sr) will try to better the 11th-place finish and 1:41.21 time from last year.
The top seed is Pone Vedra with a time of 1:35.76.
500 freestyle
Fuller enters as the 15th seed after finishing eighth in a new personal best time of 5:15.94 at the 3AR1 meet. The top seed is Cape Coral junior, Melissa Blaine with a time of 4:58.82.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville area swimmers, divers to watch at FHSAA state meet in Stuart
