LAURINBURG — Making a splash in the pool for the first time since Dec. 18, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ swimming teams earned fifth-place finishes in Wednesday’s meet.
It was the third Sandhills Athletic Conference matchup for Richmond, which saw the Raiders and Lady Raiders both finish ahead of Purnell Swett High School at O’Herron Pool on the campus of St. Andrews University.
The boys collected 78 points, while the girls were right behind them with 74 points.
Pinecrest High School’s teams would take top honors, seeing its boys team rake in 320 points and the girls finish with 275 points. The Lady Raiders were just 12 points behind fourth-place Scotland High School, and the Raiders trailed Hoke County High School by 17 points.
“It’s been a couple of weeks since our teams have swam competitively, so I thought our performances tonight were pretty good,” head coach Mike Way said. “Our goal all season has been to see our swimmers improve their times and remain competitive, and that was evident tonight.”
The bulk of the boys’ team’s points came in the two relay events it competed in. During the second event, the 200-yard medley relay, Richmond finished in fourth place with a time of 2:25.38 for 22 points. Starting the relay was Eric Singleton (backstroke), followed by Thomas Barbee (breaststroke), Dakota Locklear (butterfly) and anchored by Robbie Baxley (freestyle).
In the final relay event, the 400-yard freestyle, Barbee, Singleton, Colin Wheeler and Aiden Liston swam to a third-place finish with a mark of 6:03.96 for 24 points.
For the Lady Raiders, the relay races also proved to be a big point booster. In the 200-yard freestyle, an event the boys disqualified in, the Lady Raiders took third place behind a time of 2:18.83 for 24 points.
That time was just 5.43 seconds slower than Pinecrest for second place. Members competing for Richmond in the event were Kayla Hawkins, Ariel Spooner, Haleigh Poston and Maylyn Wallace. In the final stretch, Wallace passed Hoke County’s Victoria Osoria to take third.
Also swimming in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Lady Raiders took fifth place, but added 20 more points to their score. Hawkins, Poston, Wallace and Ellie Buck joined forces in the longest relay event at the meet.
Wallace (12 points) and Poston (5 points) would combine for 17 more points in the girls’ 50-yard freestyle. Hitting the wall in third place with a time of 31.52 seconds was Wallace, which was a new personal record for the sophomore. Poston clocked in at 34.22 seconds for eighth place.
In the 50-yard exhibition heats, Hawkins swam a 34.56, O’cean Bennett finished in 36.57, Kassie Smith clocked in at 38.46 and Kierston Gibson rounded the team out with a 42.31.
Locklear and Baxley were the top two Raiders swimming in the competitive heat of the boys’ 50-yard freestyle, combining for 13 points. Locklear’s time of 26.42 seconds was a new personal record and good enough for sixth overall. Baxley took 12th place with a time of 33.74 seconds for one point.
Exhibition times for the Raiders included Jonathan Alicea (33.42), Wheeler (34.20), Mabe (34.28) and Liston (35.66).
Wallace and Buck toughed out the 100-yard freestyle in the next event, seeing Wallace earn three points in 10th place (1:22.88). Buck’s time of 1:34.10 gave her 12th place an another point.
Baxley (1:16.53) and Mabe (1:25.58) followed suit with finishes in the 100-yard freestyle of ninth and 11th place, respectively. The two added six more points for Richmond.
Spooner and Singleton were the lone Richmond swimmers to compete in the 100-yard backstroke, taking sixth and fifth overall, respectively.
In her race, Spooner went four lengths in 1:41.17 (9 points) and Singleton set his personal record with a time of 1:39.30 (10 points), which was nearly three seconds faster than his previous record.
Rounding out the points for the Raiders was Barbee in the 100-yard breastroke, taking eighth place and five points with a time of 1:45.37.
“It was good to see our kids come out ready to swim,” Way closed. “There were a couple of new personal records set tonight, so those kids should be proud. Now we’re going to keep working harder for the last meet and the conference championship.”
The Richmond swim teams will return to action next Wednesday at St. Andrews for their final regular-season meet. Events will get underway at 6 p.m.
