LAURINBURG — Having its best outing of the season Wednesday, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ swimming team climbed in the standings.
Slicing through the pool at St. Andrews University, the Lady Raiders swam their way to a third-place finish with 93 points. It was a season-high overall placement and point total for the team.
Helping Richmond jump up two spots in the Sandhills Athletic Conference meet, its third of the season, the Lady Raiders added a new relay to their event sheet and had a couple swimmers join new races.
“I’m so proud of all the girls tonight,” head coach Asleigh Buie said. “We have been working hard all season on trying to expand on the number of events we’re competing in and tonight’s score showed how important that is.
“It takes a lot of courage to try new things, and a lot of these girls had to learn the proper techniques of difficult strokes. It’s a testament to how determined they are to get better and now we can hopefully continue to be competitive.”
Winning the meet, Pinecrest High School edged Union Pines High School 269-261.
Swimming in six events, the Lady Raiders secured 46 of their 93 points in two relay races. Six swimmers earned individual points, including team leaders sophomore Natalie Richardson (15 points), and seniors Nelly Cadena and Alivia Webb (9 points each).
Senior Jamison Hubbard added 7 points, followed by senior Samantha Barnes (4 points) and sophomore Lillian Hill (3 points).
Swimming in the 200-yard medley relay race for the first time this season, the Lady Raiders took third in the event with a time of 2:58.56. That secured 24 points.
Competing in that relay were Webb (backstroke), senior Mascha Theijs (breaststroke), sophomore Sulleigh Bruce (butterfly) and Hubbard (freestyle).
Another big chunk of points came in the 200-yard freestyle relay, which was swam by Webb, Hill, Barnes and Hubbard. Ending the race with a mark of 2:21.44, less than a second from its season-best time, Richmond took fourth place for 22 points.
In two events, the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, Richardson set a new season-high in points. In her first attempt at the open 200 this season, she hit the wall in fifth place with a time of 3:25.13 for 10 points.
Richardson later swam in the backstroke, clocking in at 1:56.14 for eighth place and five more points.
Cadena and Webb each scored 9 points with a sixth-place finish in their respective events. In the 200-yard freestyle, Cadena swam to a mark of 3:34.44, while Webb notched a final time of 1:50.98 in the 100-yard backstroke.
Hubbard’s 7 points came courtesy of a seventh-place finish in the open 100-yard race (33.33 seconds), her third event, which was tied with Webb for the most on the team.
Barnes made a splash in the open 50-yard finals heat, earning ninth place and four points (36.10 seconds). Richmond’s final points were from Hill in the 100-yard freestyle, which ended in a 10th-place time of 1:35.07.
The Lady Raiders will return to competition after the holiday break on Jan. 8, 2025. That conference meet will be held at St. Andrews and start at 6 p.m.
