A mere three seconds turned in by members of the South Rowan girls swim team kept Salisbury from a clean sweep of events at Friday’s Rowan County Swim Meet.
The Raiders edged Salisbury by 2.81 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle relay, making the Hornets settle for victories in 10 of 11 events instead of all of them.
Freshman Lindsay Starrett captured Most Outstanding honors with resounding wins in the 50 and 100 free and victories on the 200 IM and 400 free relay teams.
The Hornets also got a pair of individual wins from senior Jenny Oh in the 100 butterfly and 200 free and from sophomore Taylor Sexton in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.
Sophomore Courtney Desorbo (500 free) and senior Hannah Thompson (100 back) captured the other Salisbury firsts.
The Hornets’ five individual winners all earned All-County honors, as voted on by the coaches. Jordan Henderlite (200 IM), Chelsea Desorbo (100 free), Alice Murdoch (100 back) and Andi Steele (100 breast) also were named to the All-County squad.
East Rowan’s girls (183 points) edged out South (167) for second place behind the efforts of its three All-County swimmers. Shawna Coker (200 IM), Sarah Puckett (50 free) and Stephanie Graham (100 fly) paced the Mustangs.
Three Raiders placed on the All-County squad, including Amanda Jaap in the 50 free, 500 free and 200 free relay. Jessica Karraker (100, 200 free) and Allison Corriher (100 back) also helped the Raiders finish in third.
West took fourth with 138 points, led by All-County performers Erin Siltamaki (100 fly), Kellie Preslar (500 free) and Ellen Crowell (100 breast).
The North Rowan Cavaliers placed Shelby Caldwell on the team after her second-place finish to Oh in the 200 free.
West Rowan’s boys swim team proved nearly as dominant as the Salisbury girls, winning nine of 11 events.
The Falcons won all three relays over second-place South and got two individual wins (50 free, 100 breast) from Most Outstanding swimmer Jeff
Dockins. The sophomore also won the award last year.
Jeff’s freshman brother, Greg, added two more victories for the Falcons in the 100 fly and 100 back, while junior Adam Caldwell won his two events, the 200 IM and 500 free.
In addition to those three top performers, Falcons Nathan Barnhardt (200 free) and Steven Meseroll (100 free) earned All-County honors.
South, which finished second in nine of the 11 races, was a strong second in the overall standings with 216 points. Jacob Helms got a win in the 200 free and Ben Wooten claimed the 100 free to make All-County along with Luke Lord (200 free), Ryan Eaton (200 IM, 100 fly), Mark Beck (500 free, 100 back) and Tyler Walker (100 breast).
East came in third with 165 points, with Matt Goodman (50 free), Thomas Shelby (100 fly), Justin McKeithan (100 back) and Stephen Daly (100 breast) placing on the All-County squad.
The usually strong Hornet boys team settled for fourth place, three points behind East. Ben Clark (100 free) and Jay Henderlite (500 free) placed on the All-County team.
Salisbury was forced to swim without its leader, Ryan Starrett, who was attending a recruiting weekend at the University of Vermont. The county meet initially was scheduled for Monday, and when the date changed, it knocked Starrett out of the picture.
Nonetheless, via a unanimous vote by the county coaches, Starrett was awarded All-County honors in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly, two of his dominant events.
North’s boys squad, small in numbers like the Cavalier girls, didn’t place anybody in the top three but earned 51 points.
County meet results can be found on Scoreboard, Page 4B.
On tap for the county’s best are their conferences’ best. East and West are swimming in the 3A North Piedmont Conference Meet today at the East Y, where the county meet took place.
Salisbury and North will take on the 2A Central Carolina Conference on Wednesday from Catawba College, while South will play host to the 4A Central Piedmont Conference event.
Swimmers who have qualified for the regional meet will take on the best from the western 3A and 4A schools next weekend. The 2A state meet — there is no 2A regional this year — also takes place Feb. 9.
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