LAURINBURG — Although it recorded the same number of points from its first meet, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ swimming team climbed three spots on the scoresheet Wednesday.
Going from sixth overall to third place, the Raiders registered 54 points during their second Sandhills Athletic Conference meet of the season.
Showing no rust from the two-week break between meets at St. Andrews University, Richmond tallied points in one relay race and three individual events.
The perennial powerhouse programs of Union Pines High School (291 points) and Pinecrest High School (283 points) placed first and second, respectively.
Leading the field of the other four teams in action, Richmond bested Southern Lee (49 points), Scotland (39 points) and Hoke County (17 points) high schools.
“I’m very pleased with how the guys performed in this meet,” head coach Lauren Brewer said. “We understand it’s a tall order to compete with Union Pines and Pinecrest, so we make it our goal to be the best of the remaining teams. We were able to do that this week and that’s a big accomplishment.
“We don’t have too many experienced swimmers, so a lot of the points we’re earning are from guys who are new to the sport and trying a variety of events. It’s exciting to see their success early on and it shows we have a lot of potential to keep getting better throughout the season.”
Similar to their Lady Raider counterparts, the Raiders picked up their biggest chunk of points in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Starting with senior Gavin Applewhite, Richmond’s other swimmers included junior DJ Gainey and seniors Matthew Leggett and Michael Jurczyk. The four Raiders completed the race with a season-best time of 2:18.64, a slim improvement of 0.06 seconds from two weeks ago.
The third-place finish in the relay garnered 24 points and was one spot better than the team’s finish in the first meet.
In addition to helping with the relay race, Gainey secured a single-meet personal-best 14 points in two individual races. He collected nine points with a sixth-place time of 4:16.77 in the 200-yard freestyle, his first attempt at the event this winter.
Gainey’s other five points were the result of an eighth-place time of 1:33.51 in the open 100-yard swim.
Freshman Victor Nguyen also registered double-digit individual points. He completed the open 200-yard race for the first time this season, clocking in with an impressive time of 3:50.86 for fifth place and 10 points.
The team’s last six points were part of a two-swimmer effort in the 50-yard freestyle. Leggett added four points to the scoresheet with a ninth-place time of 32.66 seconds.
Applewhite, who made his season debut with the team, wasn’t far behind. He ended the finals heat with a time of 33.87 seconds, good enough for 11th place and two points.
The Raiders, along with the Lady Raider swim team, return to conference action at St. Andrews next Wednesday and will start at 6 p.m.
