TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Plant City Well-Represented At Swim Meet

ADVERTISEMENT

By DAREK SHARP dsharp@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 26, 2008

PLANT CITY - Though Plant City High's eight-year streak of sending a swimmer to the state meet ended, the city was still well represented.

Jason Taylor, who is a Plant City resident but attends Newsome High School, set a state record when he won the 500-meter freestyle race at the Class 2A meet in Orlando Nov. 15.

Taylor, a member of the National Team and headed to the University of Florida after his senior year, guided Newsome to an 11th-place finish in the state.

Plant City and Durant did have a large number of swimmers make it to the Region 3A-2 meet, but none posted times that were fast enough to qualify for advancement to the Class 3A state meet held Nov. 13.

The Raiders had one district champion, the 200 medley relay team of Blair Butler, Anthony Rodriguez, Gabriel Haas and Nikita Markov; none of the four are seniors. The quartet then finished 12th in the regional meet.

District 3A-4 consists of 10 schools, all from Hillsborough County except Lakeland and George Jenkins. The regional meet provides a much tougher field with 29 schools in all, coming from Pinellas, Sarasota, Manatee and as far south as Cape Coral and Venice.

Markov, who moved to Florida from Russia two summers ago, was Plant City's best individual. He was second in the district meet swimming the 50 freestyle, fourth in the 100 free and made the B-Final in both at regionals.

In each individual event, the top 24 times from the various district meets were calculated with those swimmers reaching the regional meet. Preliminary races are held with the top eight fastest swimmers making it to that night's "A Final" and the next quickest eight reaching the "B Final." Likewise, the top regional times bring with them a spot in the state meet.

Plant City had several make it to the B Finals, with the best female finisher being Anna Palermo, who was 13th in the breaststroke. Palermo also qualified for regionals in the 200 freestyle, where she came in third during districts.

The Region 3A-2 meet was Nov. 7 at Cape Coral.

Durant's top performers were Erin Hofrichter and Eduardo Bandi. Hofrichter was second in districts at the girls 200 individual medley and third in the 100 backstroke. Bandi gave Durant a second-place boys finish in the 200 IM and in the backstroke, making it to the B Final of both at regionals.

The Durant girls 200 medley team of Rachel Holland, Sarah Carlos, Hofrichter and Sylvia Innocent was third at the district meet and came in 13th at regionals. Logan Butler qualified for Durant in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.

Also making the regional meet for Plant City girls was the 200 free relay team of Brittany Butler (a freshman), Caitlyn Chandler, Megan Bradshaw and Anna Palermo. Butler qualified in both of her individual races, the 200 and 500 free.

For the Raider boys, Blair Butler, a sophomore, finished second in the district race for the 200 free then finished 10th at the regional event. The 200 free relay team of Aaron Sykes, Haas, Johnnie Byrd and Markov was third in districts. Anthony Rodriguez also made it to regionals.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT