LAURINBURG – On Wednesday evening, the Sandhills Athletic Conference swimmers packed into O’Herron Pool at St. Andrews University for the final regular season conference meet of the season. The Raiders and Lady Raiders of Richmond Senior High School were looking to end the season strong and many of them recorded their career best times on finale night.
The largest accolade of the night for Richmond went to the Lady Raiders’ 200-yard relay team. Comprised of seniors Natalie Davis, Greyson Way, Kelsey Murray and Haleigh Poston, the Lady Raiders clocked in at 2:14.66 and took first place in the event. Each member of the relay team had big finishes in individual events as well.
Davis’ time of 1:11.91 in the 100-yard freestyle was a career best by more than two seconds and was good enough to land her a third-place finish in the event out of 39 participants. Her time of 31.33 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle wasn’t a personal best, but was good enough for the fourth-place spot out of 71 swimmers. Way also earned a top 10 finish in both the 50-yard (32.19, 8th) and 100-yard (1:18.69, 10th) freestyle events.
Murray and Poston each recorded their season best times in the 50-yard freestyle. Poston bested her previous low by .69 seconds when she clocked in at 33.05. Murray cut an impressive 1.31 seconds from former best time. Her time of 35.78 is nearly two and-a-half seconds faster than her time in the season opener (38.23).
Richmond’s success in the water wasn’t limited to the ladies in the season finale. Sophomore Thomas Barbee had the largest reduction of any swimmer in the 50-yard freestyle. His time of 29.84 was nearly three and-a-half seconds faster than his previous best (33.31). Sophomore Eric Singleton finished the 100-yard backstroke five seconds faster than he had ever done before when he clocked in at 1:42.15.
Junior Dakota Locklear also had a personal best in the 50-yard freestyle. On Dec. 5, he completed the lap with his fastest time of 27.91 seconds. On Wednesday, he did it exactly one second faster (26.91). Other Raiders swimming in the 50-yard freestyle were senior Nolan Allen (33.17) and Singleton (33.92).
Other Lady Raiders participating in the 50-yard Freestyle were freshman Ellie Buck (37.71), senior Hailey Wheeler (38.20), junior Lauren Humann (38.54), senior Jenna Kubiak (38.65), freshman Kassie Smith (41.07), senior Emily Harris (42.48), and junior Caroline Greene (42.49).
In the 100-yard Freestyle, Humann clocked in at 1:29.78 and Smith recorded a time of 1:38.96. Kubiak was the only Lady Raider to participate in the 200-yard freestyle. She finished with a time of 3:30.60. Junior Aerial Spooner represented Richmond in the 100-yard backstroke and finished in sixth place (1:39.27).
The Raiders and Lady Raiders will return to St. Andrews once more on Saturday, Jan. 19, for the Sandhills Athletic Conference Tournament.
