LAURINBURG — A long awaited start to the high school swimming season resulted in a sixth-place finish for the Richmond girls’ team on Wednesday.
After several setbacks due to pool conditions at St. Andrews University, the six Lady Raiders on this year’s team collected 41 points across three events.
Lee County High School just edged Richmond, earning 43 points, and Pinecrest High School took home the first win of the Sandhills Athletic Conference season with 277 points.
The majority of the Lady Raiders’ points came in the 200-yard freestyle relay, which saw the team finish with a time of 2:26.57 for 20 points.
Taking sixth place in the event, a trio of sophomores and a freshman split the laps in the pool. Alivia Webb opened the race with a lap time of 39.95 seconds, followed by Presley Dawkins at 37.20 seconds.
Closing out the relay were Nelly Cadena in the third spot with the fastest time (34.70 seconds) and anchor Jamison Hubbard clocked in at 34.72 seconds.
Richmond earned 16 more points in the 50-yard freestyle race, contributed by Hubbard and Cadena.
Taking seventh overall, Hubbard notched nine points in 34.37 seconds. Cadena added seven points with an eighth-place finish (35.16 seconds).
Webb (38.35 seconds), Maddie Pearson (43.23 seconds) and Anayeli Zapata (52.31 seconds) competed in the open 50-yard freestyle, but didn’t place.
Cadena, who is in her second season with the team as a sophomore, contributed her third set of points in the 100-yard freestyle race.
Finishing the four lengths of the pool, Cadena completed the race for the first time in her career with a mark of 1:28.51. That secured Richmond’s final five points as she took 11th place.
The Lady Raiders will swim in their second conference meet next Wednesday at St. Andrews, beginning at 6:15 p.m.
