Local swimmers competing in state tourney

Columbia County will be well represented at the Georgia High School Association state swimming and diving championships, which begin today and continue through Saturday at The Westminster School in Atlanta.

Lakeside and Greenbrier athletes will compete in Class AAAA, while Evans competes in Class AAAA.

Diving events for all classifications are today; preliminary heats for Class AAAA are held Thursday, and the Class AAAA preliminaries will be Friday; swimming finals for all classifications are on Saturday.

Following is a list of county athletes competing this week at state, as well as the events in which they qualified.

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Greenbrier High School: Tim Murray (100-meter backstroke and 100 freestyle; Michael Hawkins (100 breaststroke and 500 freestyle); Matt Duffin 100 butterfly); Stephanie Fransoso (100 breaststroke); Mary Gunnels (100 breaststroke). The following Greenbrier swimmers will compete in relays (200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle): Murray; Hawkins; Matt Duffin; Josh Duffin; Tim Sears; Alex Trakowski; and, Greg Manz (alternate).

Lakeside High School: J.R. Barrett (200-meter freestyle and 500 freestyle); Peter Caruana (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly); Mike Gibson (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle); Eric Hauff (100 butterfly); Kevin Skenes (100 breaststroke); Lorin Harter (diving); Rebeccah Houston 200 freestyle). The following Lakeside swimmers will compete in relays (200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle): Barrett; P. Caruana; Gibson; Hauff; Skenes; Austin Banks; Clay Tuggle; Sarah Caruana; Sara Davison; Allison Gober; Erica Mankin; Brandy McCauley; and, Amanda Rowland.

Evans High School: Christian Kata (200-meter freestyle and 500 freestyle); Peter Borschelt (500 freestyle); Richard Splichal (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly); Sharon Rogers (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle); Rebekah Moody (100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly). The following Evans swimmers will compete in relays (200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle): Kata; Borschelt; Splichal; Drew Hess; Ben Lewis; Dan Nauman; Neal McGahee; Justin Richards; R. Moody; Rogers; Amanda Griffin; Kaitlyn Seigler; Briana Moody; and, Chelsea Palmer.