RAEFORD — Making a splash in its season debut Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ swimming team used its returning experience to rack up the points.
Competing in their first Mid-South Conference meet of the season at the James A. Leach Aquatic Center, the Lady Raiders placed fifth out of six teams.
Richmond recorded its 129 points across six events from eight different swimmers and one relay team.
Winning the meet was Pinecrest High School, which scored 384 points. Placing second was Pine Forest High School (362 points), followed by Overhills (267 points) and Jack Britt (256 points) high schools.
Richmond finished ahead of sixth-place Hoke County High School, which had 110 points.
Responsible for many of the team’s points was the 200-yard freestyle relay team, which placed fourth with a time of 2:30.11. Helping collect 30 points were senior Jada Scott, junior Lillian Hill, senior Presley Dawkins and junior Natalie Richardson.
Not only the anchor in the relay race, Richardson helped lock down a team-high 25 points in her two individual events. Her best outing of the meet came in the 100-yard backstroke, which saw her clock in at 1:48.79 for sixth place and 13 points.
Richardson’s other event was the longer 200-yard freestyle, which ended in a seventh-place time of 3:16.60 and a dozen more points.
Also scoring double digits were freshman Alaya Rankin (19 points) and Dawkins (14 points).
In her debut, Rankin finished the 100-yard backstroke just behind Richardson in seventh place with a time of 1:49.70 (12 points). Her other event was the 50-yard freestyle, which ended in a 10th-place time of 40.81 seconds and seven points.
All of Dawkins’ 14 individual points came as part of a fifth-place effort in the 200-yard freestyle. She completed the race with a final time of 3:03.93.
A trio of swimmers contributed nine points each — Scott, sophomore Annabelle Millen and freshman Jasey Braddock. Scott had a ninth-place time of 2:25.05 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Both newcomers this season, Millen and Braddock each placed ninth in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races, respectively. Millen was the Lady Raiders’ fastest swimmer in the open 50 with a time of 40.63 seconds, while Braddock also led the team in the 100-yard free (1:31.34).
Hill and sophomore Abby Hinson were the final two Lady Raiders to record points in individual events, both taking 10th in the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.
Finishing just behind Braddock in the open 100, Hill hit the end wall with a final time of 1:31.50 for seven points. Hinson’s time of 2:57.90 in the breaststroke also collected seven points.
Swimming an exhibition heat for the Lady Raiders in the 50-yard freestyle was sophomore Bayden Bendell, who finished with a time of 48.88 seconds.
The Lady Raiders’ next MSC meet will be Dec. 11 at the Leach Aquatic Center. Events will start at 6 p.m.
Click here to read about the Richmond boys’ swimming team’s first meet of the season.
