Palm Beach divers dominate at large-school state finals
Local divers stole the show at the FHSAA Class 3A and 4A state swimming and diving championships at the Sailfish Splashpark Aquatic Athletics Center in Stuart.
South Florida divers dominated the Class 4A girls competition as they took six of the top seven spots led by Boca Raton senior Jessie Creed, who won with a 479.35 total.
Creed, a two-time state 1-meter diving champion in Illinois, moved to Boca Raton in the beginning of April.
“Winning states is an honor, everyone competing was so good,” said Creed, who also finished third at the Illinois state meet as a freshman. “I was very happy with how all of my dives ended up. We all hit some incredible dives, but there is always a couple of points to make up on the board.”
Wellington senior Julia Wortman finished second with 454.30 points. Boca Raton freshman Emilie Moore was fourth (436.95), while a trio of Jupiter sophomores – Leila Glowka (395.90), Haley Fekete (395.50) and Noa Miller (391.25) – were fifth through seventh respectively.
Jupiter junior Tyler Coffey won the boys 1-meter diving competition with a 516.10, while Warriors teammate Will Lefebvre was third with 500.10 points. Tyler Flowers, a sophomore at Cooper City, was fourth with 441.05 points.
“That was the goal,” said Coffey, who was second as a freshman and third last year. “I did a lot to prepare during the summer. I trained two hours a day, morning and night and the grind...I think the practice, practice, practice and having Will to compete against was just great. We really push each other.”
West Boca freshman Amelia Lehel was second in the Girls 1-meter diving with 471.10 points, just eight points back of Osceola sophomore Carina Lumia in the Class 3A competition. She was the first diver in school history. Northeast sophomore Blake Shaw was second in the Boys 1-meter 3A competition with 519.55 points, while Nova High senior Dillon Kadish was fifth with a total of 405.
In the 4A swimming competition, Cooper City senior Kathleen Golding was second in the 200-yard IM with an Automatic All-American time of 1:59.30, and third in the 100-yard freestyle (50.86, AA-C). Golding, a University of Florida commit, was the three-time defending state 200-yard IM high school champion and fell to Riverview rival Emma Weyant, who won the 200-IM in 1:58.07, also an Automatic All-American time.
“It obviously wasn’t the meet I wanted to have but I still swam well and I’m happy with my times,” Golding said. “You can’t win them all. It was such a blast to have my teammates by my side cheering me on. All in all, it was a great close to high school swimming.”
Boca Raton sophomore Paige Maceachern was third in the 200-yard IM (2:03.12) and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.89). Her time in the 200-IM was an All-American Consideration effort.
St. Thomas Aquinas senior Juan Zapata won the 100-yard butterfly (50.06) and was fifth in the boys 200-yard IM (1:53.37). He said he hopes college coaches will notice him as he looks for a scholarship offer.
“I was hoping to win both the 200-IM and the 100-fly,” Zapata said. “At least I got the 100-fly. I feel like it is an important to show college coaches how I can perform.”
Other top swims for Broward and Palm Beach included: St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore Lance Lesage was fifth in the 100-yard backstroke (51.55); Atlantic senior Madison Cummings was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (54.34, AA-A) and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke (56.26); Forest Hill sophomore Anna Auld was third in the 500-yard freestyle (4:50.59, AA-A) and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.94); Jupiter sophomore Caleb Petranchuk was fourth in the 50-yard freestyle with a 21.16 clocking and was seventh in the 100-yard butterfly (51.26); Park Vista senior Quoctuan Ho tied for fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (51.00); Forest Hill sophomore Megan Murphy was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke (56.17).
Boca Raton’s girls were fifth with 128 points, while the Jupiter’s boys placed sixth with 123 points.
Top local swims In the 3A meet included Fort Lauderdale junior Kevin De Grijze taking fourth in the 100-yard backstroke (58.85) and fifth in the 200-yard IM (1:53.16). West Boca sophomore Michael Fernandez was fifth (21.28) in the Boys 50-yard freestyle. In the Boys 100-yard backstroke, South Broward junior Andy Rogatinsky was second (57.67).
The Fort Lauderdale team of De Grijze, senior Ralph Meadows, sophomore Matthew Gocke and senior Kenaz Sweeting was seventh in the Boys 400-yard freestyle relay (3:18.53).
Venice won the boys 3A championship with 230 points.
Fort Lauderdale was 14th with 53 points, while South Broward was 16th with 45 points. West Boca was the top local finisher in Palm with 17 points to take 24th.