Lakeside swimmers fight for close wins over Pope

They were fighting like cats and dogs last weekend at Augusta Aquatics Center, where the Lakeside High School swimming and diving teams clawed their way to close victories over the Pope High School Greyhounds.

The Lady Panthers pulled out a 164-143 victory, and the Panthers edged Pope 129-126.

The Saturday meet marked a successful return for the Lakeside squads, which were coming off a nearly month-long break.

In their spare time the Panthers and Lady Panthers kept practicing, as evidenced by the wins over Pope, one of the better teams in Class AAAAA.

//

Pope brought many of its top guns to the meet, and captured most of the individual events, but the Lakeside swimmers and divers posted enough high finishes to prevail.

Lakeside's Michael Gibson placed first in two individual events, while J.R. Barrett added a first place. Peter Caruana recorded three second-place finishes, and Eric Hauff also notched a second-place.

Lorin Harter won the diving event for the Lady Panthers, Allison Gober and Amanda Rowland also picked up individual wins, and Rebeccah Houston and Sarah Caruana each earned points with second-place showings in individual events.

Both Lakeside squads improved their records to 4-0 at the halfway point of the 2002-03 season.

Lakeside's next meet is against Cross Creek, Westside and Greenbrier Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Augusta Aquatic Center.

Lakeside individual winners

Boys: 200-meter freestyle relay - Michael Gibson, Kevin Skenes, J.R. Barrett and Peter Caruana (1:35.94); 50 freestyle - Michael Gibson (:23.62); 100 freestyle - Michael Gibson (:53.62); 500 freestyle - J.R. Barrett (5:11.50).

Girls: 50-meter freestyle - Sarah Caruana (:23.62); 1-meter diving - Lorin Harter (159.45); 500 freestyle - Allison Gober (6:08.63); 100 breast stroke - Amanda Rowland (1:18.99).