LAURINBURG – On Saturday, the students on Richmond Senior High School’s boys and girls swim teams attended the inaugural Sandhills Athletic Conference Championship meet at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg.
There were two battles going on in the pool. The first was between the two seasoned programs at Pinecrest and Jack Britt to see who would finish out on top. The second was everyone else trying to see who would be the best new program in the SAC.
Richmond head coach Mike Way has been emphasizing the importance of just growing and getting better each week, and as a result, the Richmond swimmers ended their season with a lot to be proud of.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders found a lot of success with their relay teams. In the girls 200-yard freestyle relay, comprised of seniors Altman Griffin, Mackenzie Webb, and juniors Natalie Davis and Greyson Way, the Lady Raiders finished with a season best time of 2:11.56.
That time was eight and a half seconds less than their last meet on January 10 and 22 seconds less than their December 6 meet. As a result, they finished second in the event, their best finish of the season.
The boys team did not fare as well in the 200-yard freestyle relay. They were tagged with a stroke infraction and were disqualified from the event. However, they rebounded in the 400-yard freestyle relay when they blew away their previous best time of 5:04.21 and finished nearly 30 seconds quicker, clocking in at 4:34.74.
Not to be outdone, the Lady Raiders shed a half-a-minute from their time as well in the 400-yard freestyle relay. In the January 10th meet, they finished the relay at 5:51.87. This time, they raced to a 5:20.93 time.
Griffin, who posted her best time in the girls 200-yard freestyle with a time of 3:06.40, beat her previous best by more than eight seconds. In the boys 200-yard freestyle, senior Carter Roberson clocked in at 2:50.09, his best of the season in that event as well.
This will conclude the programs’ first season for most swimmers, but the regional competition in Greensboro may be a possibility for a few of them.
“We have a couple of possibilities for regionals,” explained Coach Mike Way. “We didn't have any to make the automatic time, but we have some that are under the consideration time.”
