ATLANTA — A handful of northeast Georgia swimmers are very much in the mix to continue the gold rush for area competitors after strong starts at the GHSA swim and dive championships in Atlanta.
North Forsyth's boys 200-yard freestyle relay team and Jack DalMolin each finished first in their respective preliminary races. DalMolin finished the 100 breaststroke in 55.04 seconds, while the relay team finished in 1:26.4 -- Gainesville's Tanner Doan also finished 10th in the same race (59.19) to push into the championship finals.
But they were far from the only northeast Georgia swimmers to impress on Friday and set up a big finish on Saturday.
Chestatee's Lindsey Grater finished third in the 500 free (5:05.76), just off the pace set by Providence Christian's Savan Mitchell (4:59.40). Grater also took sixth in the 100 butterfly preliminaries (59.77). Jefferson's McKenzi Klinck also finished 10th in the race to fight her way into Saturday's medal race. Starr's Mill's Donna Blaum posted the top preliminary time of 54.23.
Meanwhile, in the girls Class A-AAAAA 50 free, North Hall's Rosemary Schofield swam her way into Saturday's medal races with a seventh place finish in the preliminaries (24.87). Commerce's Saman Davidson also took 10th in the race (25.08), while Starr's Mill's Blaum led the pack with a 23.33.
Doan will also compete in the 200 IM finals after finishing seventh in the Class AAAAAA-AAAAAAA preliminaries (1:54.72).
Other area competitors set for medal races on Saturday include Lumpkin County's Ben Moers, who took 10th in the Class A-AAAAA 100 fly (53.36). North Hall's Julia Kelly also took eighth in the 100 free (53.57).
Swimming will resume at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
