ROCKINGHAM — Now past the halfway point in The Richmond Observer’s recap series, Richmond Senior High School’s swimming program is next to take the platform.
The 2024-25 swim season was one of transition and growth for the boys’ and girls’ programs, which both saw head coaching changes.
With the goal of trying to remain in the top three teams in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings, the Raiders and head coach Lauren Brewer achieved that milestone.
Using a mixture of experienced swimmers and newcomers, the Raiders placed third in the standings.
Richmond’s best overall finish of the regular season was on senior night, which saw Matthew Leggett, Cole Thrower and DJ Gainey each record double-digit points. The Raiders notched a season-high 103 points.
Recap the Raider swim team’s best performances of the season from Jan. 16, 2025 below:
Season-best performance for Raiders on senior night
RAEFORD — Continuing to find its rhythm late in the season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ swimming team recorded a new season-high in points during Wednesday’s meet.
In the penultimate Sandhills Athletic Conference competition of the regular season, the Raiders passed the century mark for the second straight outing and posted a total of 103 points.
Ahead of the meet, Richmond and the other conference teams participated in recognizing all of the senior swimmers on senior night.
Like their Lady Raider counterparts, the Raiders benefited from a pair of relay races for the bulk of their points. Between the 200-yard freestyle and medley relays, Richmond collected 46 points.
Four total swimmers accounted for points in individual races. A trio of Raiders — Leggett, along with juniors DJ Gainey and Cole Thrower — finished with double-digit points. The other point scorer was junior Luke Gilliam.
“As a team, we’ve continued to get better and better as the season has progressed,” head coach Lauren Brewer said. “All the guys have set high expectations for themselves and for us as a team, and with their drive and determination, we have been able to reach our goals week to week.
“We wouldn’t be the team that we are without our seniors,” she added. “All five of them bring their own contributions to the team and we’re thankful for that. Everyone really did a great job to help put together what I think will be a memorable senior night meet for them.”
For the third straight meet, Richmond’s 200-yard medley relay team of Gilliam (backstroke), Leggett (breaststroke), Applewhite (butterfly) and Thrower (freestyle) posted a season-fastest time.
The four Raiders completed the relay with a final time of 2:45.35 to place fourth overall and collect 22 points. That time was more than three seconds faster than last week’s pace (2:48.56).
Applewhite, Leggett and Thrower combined with Gainey in the 200-yard freestyle relay to collect another 24 points with a third-place time. Their heat time of 2:10.13 was less than half a second off their fastest this winter (2:09.69).
As he has most of the season, Thrower led the team in individual points. He secured 20 points in two other events, a personal best for him.
Thrower was fifth overall in the 50-yard (27.77 seconds) and 100-yard (1:05.54) freestyle races, the latter of which was a new season-best. Both of those placements garnered 10 points each.
Gainey and Leggett each finished the meet with 14 points, a new season-high for Leggett.
Serving as Richmond’s go-to distance swimmer, Gainey racked up nine points in the 200-yard freestyle. He finished with a time of 3:45.02 in sixth place. His final points came in the open 100-yarder with a pace of 1:24.87, which was eighth overall for five points.
Leggett’s 14 points were split between a pair of seventh-place results (seven points each) in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. He clocked in with times of 31.48 seconds and 1:40.06, respectively, with his 50-yard time being his best this winter.
Gilliam helped Richmond take third place in the final meet standings with his performance in the 100-yard backstroke. He secured nine points with a sixth-place finish (1:56.01).
Taking first overall in the meet was Union Pines High School (297 points), which flip-flopped with second-place Pinecrest High School (275 points). The Raiders managed to finish four points ahead of Southern Lee High School (99 points).
Richmond will swim in one final regular season meet next Wednesday at the Leach Aquatic Center. Events will get underway at 6 p.m.
