RAEFORD — Three swimmers and a pair of relay teams picked up all of the Raider swimming team’s points Wednesday.
Richmond and five other Sandhills Athletic Conference teams competed in their fourth regular-season meet of the season.
Swimming for the first time since before the holiday break, the Raiders earned third place and 117 points at the James A. Leach Aquatic Center.
Taking first overall as a team was Pinecrest High School (315 points), followed by second-place Union Pines High School (243 points).
The remainder of the standings finished out with Scotland (86 points), Southern Lee (81 points) and Hoke County (20 points) high schools.
Senior Brent Humann recorded personal record times in both of his individual events, while also contributing to season-fastest times in two relay races. He tied his single-meet career-high with 22 points.
Notching a team-high 25 points, his highest total in a meet this winter, was senior Matteo Rubbiano. He also swam in both relay teams’ races.
Rounding out the individual scoring was senior Zaviar Lowry, who added 22 points in two events, also tying his single-meet career-high.
Richmond’s 200-yard medley relay team and 200-yard freestyle relay team combined for 48 points with a pair of third-place finishes.
“This was a tremendous effort by the guys tonight,” head coach Andy Shuler said. “Brent had a great night with a couple of PRs and Matteo and Zay both continue to add big chunks of points by finishing near the top of their races.
“We know how important relay races are to adding points, and the guys gave it their best effort tonight in both events,” he added. “Getting season-best times is something they should be proud of.”
Rubbiano secured his 25 points across two events — the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races. He placed second in the 50-yard race (25.61 seconds) for 13 points and added 12 points with a third-place time of 56.92 seconds in the 100-yard event.
Humann set PRs in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. Taking fourth place in each event, he earned 11 points per race.
In the open 50-yard, Humann swam to a final time of 27.66 seconds, 0.11 seconds faster than his best time two meets ago. He followed that with a mark of 1:20.94 in the butterfly, 0.16 seconds faster.
Continuing to do well in the distance events, Lowry placed third in the 500-yard freestyle (12 points) and took fifth in the 200-yard freestyle (10 points).
Lowry completed the open 200 in 3:21.16, followed by a time of 9:23.87 in the 500-yarder.
Rubbiano (backstroke), senior Matthew Leggett (breaststroke), Humann (butterfly) and sophomore Cole Thrower (freestyle) clocked in a season-best time of 2:14.71 in the 200-yard medley relay.
After being disqualified during their last outing, the four Raiders combined to shave 2.38 seconds off their team record. The foursome took third place for 24 points.
Humann, senior Zane Searcy, Thrower and Rubbiano also swam to third place in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:55.98). That time was also a season-low for the Raiders, which was 1.12 seconds faster.
An exhibition relay team also competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay for Richmond. Sophomore Connor Thrower, freshman Michael Jurzyk, junior Gavin Applewhite and Leggett swam it in 2:15.35.
Six Raiders swam exhibition heats in the 50-yard freestyle with three of them setting new PRs — Jurzyk (36.53), Leggett (32.14) and Searcy (32.26). Other swimmers were Applewhite (35.17), Cole Thrower (28.59) and Conner Thrower (43.16).
PHOTOS: Click here to view a photo gallery of Wednesday’s SAC swim meet.
The Raiders will compete again next Wednesday in Raeford at 6:15 p.m.
