Pine Lake Prep, Raleigh Charter capture 1A/2A state swim titles

Langston Wertz Jr., Steve Lyttle
·5 min read

Pine Lake Prep’s girls and Raleigh Charter’s boys captured the state’s 1A-2A swim and diving championships Friday.

It was the third state title for the Pine Lake Prep girls, who also won in 2016 and 2017. Raleigh Charter’s boys won a state crown in 2018.

Raleigh Charter nearly swept the championships Friday, finishing a close second to the Pine Lake Prep girls.

Pine Lake Prep piled up points in the relays. The Pride won the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays and finished second in the 400 freestyle relay. Grace McCarthy swam anchor leg on both teams, and she also finished second in the 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle events.

Raleigh Charter’s boys captured four events, including the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. In addition, Leon Zhang won the 200 freestyle, and Owen VonWeihe won the 200 individual medley. Zhang and VonWeihe also swam on both winning relay squads.

Union Academy sophomore Kayda Geyer had a big meet, winning the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

Other Charlotte-area winners were Community School of Davidson’s Taylor Curlee (girls’ diving); Christ the King’s Jacob Pote (100 freestyle); Mountain Island Charter’s Beck Armstrong (100 backstroke); and Mountain Island Charter’s 200 freestyle relay team, which included Armstrong.

There was one other Raleigh-area winner — Calvin Schafer of Research Triangle (100 breaststroke).

Friday’s competition, at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, was the second of three state championship meets this weekend. The 4A finals are set for Saturday.

On Thursday, Lake Norman Charter (girls) and Carrboro (boys) won 3A state team championships.

GIRLS’ RESULTS

Team scores: Pine Lake Prep 242; Raleigh Charter 209; Lincoln Charter 130; N.C. School of Science and Math/Durham 125; Elkin 124; Seaforth 123; Bishop McGuinness 93; Union Academy 91; Christ the King 88; Community School of Davidson 86.

(others from Charlotte, Raleigh areas) Wake Prep 76; Mountain Island Charter 57; Bradford Prep 43; Woods Charter 37; Voyager Academy 29; Langtree Charter 17; Highland Tech 9; East Gaston 6; Triangle School of Science & Math 5; Research Triangle 4; Mount Pleasant 4.

Top-three finishers:

Diving: Taylor Curlee (Community School of Davidson) 435.30; Audrey Starnes (Langtree Charter) 383.40; Addison Nordone (Community School of Davidson) 351.60

200 medley relay: Pine Lake Prep (Lily Storie, Ella Deardorff, Sydney Haun, Grace McCarthy), 1:54.49; Raleigh Charter 1:55.38; N.C. School of Science & Math/Durham 1:56.23.

200 freestyle: Abigail Emrich (Northwood) 1:50.66; Daisy Collins (Woods Charter) 1:50.77; Megan Becker (Uwharrie Charter) 1:53.66.

200 individual medley: Kayda Geyer (Union Academy) 2:04.18; Grace McCarthy (Pine Lake Prep) 2:05.49; Sydney Burleigh (Seaforth) 2:11.22.

50 freestyle: Alexandra Tysinger (Burns) 23.40; Sophie Welborn (Elkin) 23.97; Emily Heil (Mountain Island Charter) 24.90.

100 butterfly: Sydney Burleigh (Seaforth) 57.42; Morgan Wiles (Elkin) 57.63; Sydney Haun (Pine Lake Prep) 58.93.

100 freestyle: Alexandra Tysinger (Burns) 50.83; Grace McCarthy (Pine Lake Prep) 51.38; Megan Becker (Uwharrie Charter) 52.59.

200 freestyle relay: Pine Lake Prep (Addy McDonough, Campbell Kolbay, Sophie Storie, Grace McCarthy) 1:42.39; Lincoln Charter 1:44.83; Elkin 1:44.97.

100 backstroke: Abigail Emrich (Northwood) 57.60; Lily Fender (Mountain Heritage) 1:00.13; Julia Filiault (Christ the King) 1:00.80.

100 breaststroke: Kayda Geyer (Union Academy) 1:04.14; Lexi Alexander (Wake Prep) 1:06.83; Julia Sherrill (Brevard) 1:09.00.

400 freestyle relay: Raleigh Charter (Allyson Deans, Devanshi Garg, Derin Sen, Kate Ragsdale) 3:48.21; Pine Lake Prep 3:48.60; Lincoln Charter 3:51.02.

BOYS’ RESULTS

Team scores: Raleigh Charter 294; N.C. School of Science & Math/Durham 192.5; Seaforth 148; Mountain Island Charter 141; Franklin Academy 115; Community School of Davidson 99; Pine Lake Prep 97; Lincoln Charter 90; East Gaston 83; Bradford Prep 79.

(others from Charlotte, Raleigh areas) Christ the King 72; Union Academy 45; Research Triangle 36; Highland Tech 33; Eno River Academy 32; Woods Charter 30; Corvian Community 29.

Top-three finishers:

Diving: Garrett Urash (Shelby) 353.00; Andrew Cook (East Gaston) 268.05; Davidson Fisher (Pine Lake Prep) 265.45.

200 medley relay: Raleigh Charter (Kyle Su, Owen VonWeighe, Leon Zhang, Alex Lee) 1:38.66; Searforth; Mountain Island Charter.

200 freestyle: Leon Zhang (Raleigh Charter) 1:44.14; Colton Roberts (Seaforth) 1:44.48; Jack Frank (Eno River Academy) 1:48.82.

200 individual medley: Owen VonWeighe (Raleigh Charter) 1:53.05; Asher Allebach (Pine Lake Prep) 1:53.20; Calvin Schafer (Research Triangle) 1:56.18.

50 freestyle: Luke Nebrich (West Davidson) 20.36; Andrew Cook (Franklin Academy) 21.76; Teagan Laursen (N.C. School of Science & Math/Durham) 21.92.

100 butterfly: Luke Nebrich (West Davidson) 50.61; Beck Armstrong (Mountain Island Charter) 51.27; Brody Collander (Community School of Davidson) 52.23.

100 freestyle: Jacob Pote (Christ the King) 47.75; Housten Clark (Lincoln Charter) 48.45; Teagan Laursen (N.C. School of Science & Math/Durham) 48.80

200 freestyle relay: Mountain Island Charter (Jack Lazaroski, Connor Logue, Grant Berry, Beck Armstrong) 1:30.01; N.C. School of Science & Math/Durham 1:30.38; Community School of Davidson 1:32.21.

100 backstroke: Beck Armstrong (Mountain Island Charter) 52.85; Kyle Su (Raleigh Charter) 54.29; Jackson Graves (North Surry) 54.94.

100 breaststroke: Calvin Schafer (Research Triangle) 56.04; Evan Hepburn (Seaforth) 57.00; Leon Zhang (Raleigh Charter) 57.60.

400 freestyle relay: Raleigh Charter (Leon Zhang, Kyle Su, Alex Lee, Owen VonWeihe) 3:15.89; Seaforth 3:18.97; N.C. School of Science & Math/Durham 3:22.98.