ATLANTA — For the past three years, swimmers from the Gainesville area have turned the GHSA swim and dive championships into their own personal medal parties. In fact, the Powers brothers from North Hall (Paul and Ty) and Gainesville's Colin Monaghan steamed up the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center en route to titles and state records.
And now the trio is competing in collegiate pools.
So surely that means area competitors can expect to take a step back at this weekend's state championships, right?
Think again.
A number of talented and speedy competitors from northeast Georgia will make the trek to Tech this weekend. And several have designs on making their own splash in high school's biggest pool.
North Hall's Rosemary Schofield posted the fastest 100-yard freestyle mark of any competitor in Classes A-AAAAA during the season (Class AAAAAA competes alone, the other five classes all cross over), clocking in at 53.84 seconds. The Lady Trojans speedster also owns the third fastest qualifying time in the 50 free (24.60 -- just .24 seconds off top seeded Melissa Brown of Grady). And she's far from alone in medal hopefuls.
The girls side, in particular, is full of top 10 qualification times, including teammate Ashley Johnston, who has the fifth fastest 100 free time (55.20) and ninth fastest 100 backstroke mark (59.90). Their abilities have also helped North Hall's 200 free relay squad to the sixth seed (1:44.12), while Jefferson's is less than a second behind in ninth (1:44.96). The Lady Dragons feature standout Camille Porter, who is the eighth seed in the 50 free (25.14).
Chestatee's Lindsey Grater also hopes to impress, as the ninth seed in the 200 free (1:59.20) and 10th seed in the 500 free (5:20.05).
The boys side of the competition also features a number of top 10 times from area standouts, led by Riverside Military's Kevin Reale. The Eagles swimmer has the fourth best 100 breaststroke qualification time (59.04) and sixth best 100 butterfly mark (52.45).
Chestatee's Luke Hene also owns the fourth best seed in the 100 backstroke (52.22) and is eighth in the 200 individual medley (1:59.03).
Gainesville also has two top 10 competitors in Brian Monaghan -- Colin's younger brother -- and Tanner Doan. Monaghan has the fifth best 100 breaststroke seed at 59.73, while Doan is seventh in the 200 individual medley (1:58.09).
And there are plenty more area swimmers slated to begin competition on Friday, as preliminary races get underway. And as the last few years have shown, northeast Georgia's competitors know a thing or two about performing on the big stage.
-- NOTE: Jefferson High divers Addison Kelly and Sara Rogers finished sixth and 13th, respectively in Classes A-AAAAA in Thursday's diving championships portion of the state meet in Atlanta.
