LAURINBURG – Wednesday evening, the Richmond Senior High School swim teams will enter their third week of Sandhills Athletic Conference action at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg.
Just like any speed-based athletics, the goal of the Richmond swimmers is to improve their times each week. Several Raider swimmers have accomplished that goal between weeks one and two and are eager to continue reducing their finishing times in each event every week.
Lady Raider senior Natalie Davis not only reached season low times, but also recorded career and school lows in the second meet of the season. Davis finished in fifth out of 77 participants in the 50-yard freestyle. Her time of 31.13 seconds marked the first time in six attempts that she finished below 32 seconds. In the 100-yard freestyle, she clocked in at 1:14.09, another personal best. Davis’ times in those two events were also school records for the young program in its second season.
“Since this is my last year, I’ve really pushed myself hard,” said Davis. “Coach Way and Coach Shuler do a great job at pushing me to do my best. I was on a swim team when I was younger where I learned the skill and fell in love with competing.
“My goal for this year is to keep improving my times in both individual and relays,” she added.
Also competing in the 50-yard freestyle for the Lady Raiders were senior Greyson Way (31.77, 7th), senior Caitlyn McGuire (35.03, 17th), junior Haleigh Poston (35.81, 21st), senior Kelsey Murray (37.90, 27th), junior Aerial Spooner (38.44, 30th), freshman Ellie Buck (38.67, 31st), senior Hailey Wheeler (39.31, 32nd), freshman Kassie Smith (41.25, 37th), junior Caroline Greene (41.29, 38th), senior Emily Harris (41.51, 39th), and junior Lauren Humann (42.42, 42nd).
Davis, Way, McGuire, Murray, Wheeler and Smith each showed some improvement in their times from week one to week two.
Along with Davis, Buck and Smith also punched the clock sooner in the 100-yard freestyle. Buck cut two-tenths of a second off of her week one time to finish in 21st place with a 1:33.50 finish. Smith only managed to finish in 23rd place, but easily earned the most improvement award on the night. She cut an impressive 4.5 seconds from her season opening time with a 1:38.40 in week two.
Smith entered her freshman year with no history in competitive swimming, but intends to improve, be an asset to the program, and remain on the team for four years.
“I do not have any swimming experience besides the backyard pool,” Smith shared. “I’ve been swimming during practice, staying after practice, and going to the gym on my own time. Overall, my plan is to improve my time so that I can put points on the board for my team.”
Way (1:19.21, 9th) earned a top 10 finish in the 100-yard freestyle and Humann (1:28.15) grabbed a 19th place finish in the event. Senior Jenna Kubiak was a seventh-place finisher in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 3:26.12, and Spooner rounded out the scoring for the Lady Raiders in individual events with a sixth place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (1:49.00).
The Lady Raiders relay team consisting of Davis, Spooner, Way and Buck took third place in the 400-yard relay. Buck, a freshman at the Early College, was in good company on the relay team with three multisport athletes who are all in their second year of swimming. However, after playing JV volleyball for the Lady Raiders in the fall and with plans to try out for soccer in the spring, Buck easily fit right in.
“It’s been an adjustment being an Early College student and an athlete, but I’ve managed so far,” Buck explained. “I really enjoy doing sports because it helps keep me active during school.”
Unlike Smith, Buck joins the Richmond swimming program with some experience in the pool. “Kim Haltiwanger taught me to swim as a child and was my first swim coach for a team that First Health briefly had about six years ago,” Buck continued. “She really helped me learn the strokes that have helped me a lot this year.”
In the boys’ events, it was senior Dakota Locklear leading the way for Richmond. Locklear, the only returning member of the Raiders’ roster, finished the 50-yard freestyle in fourth place with a career best time of 27.91. In the 100-yard freestyle, he set a new school record clocking in at 1:01.94 earning him fourth place finish in that event as well.
Locklear attributes his improvement to simply putting in hard work at practice.
“What I do to improve my times is practice,” Locklear said. “For swimming and any other sport you have to practice. That’s how you get better. My goal is to get faster times and hopefully make regionals.”
Also representing the Raiders in the 50-yard freestyle were senior Nolan Allen (33.14, 27th), junior Austin Talton (33.19, 28th), sophomore Thomas Barbee (33.31, 29th), junior Jerry Austin (34.69, 32nd), and sophomore Eric Singleton (36.57, 37th). Locklear, Allen, Talton, Barbee and Austin all improved their times from the week one meet.
The only other Raider joining Locklear in the 100-yard freestyle was Talton. Talton completed the event with a time of 1:16.00, nearly six seconds quicker than the week before.
Austin swam to a seventh place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:37.06 which was just over a second faster than what he recorded in the previous meet. Barbee showed a big improvement in the 200-yard freestyle. His 3:20.59 finish was an 11 second improvement over week one.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders return to the pool on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at St. Andrews University.
