Lakeside makes splash
A Lakeside parent walked over to Jessica Hales and told her she had to be the best coach in the county.
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Blake Goolsby, of Lakeside High School, dives during the swim meet. The boys were able to take 205.5 points in the meet to thwart Evans' team, which had 110.
Photo by Kevin Martin
"I don't know about that," Hales said from her pool-side seat. "We just have a bunch of great swimmers."
While the former could be up for debate, the latter cannot.
Lakeside won both the boys and girls titles at the CSRA Championship Meet last week at the Augusta Aquatic Center.
"I'm so proud of both teams," Hales said.
The Lakeside girls defended the CSRA Championship by scoring 182 points, with Evans coming in second with 149.
"We've just had a great year," senior Amanda Rowland said. "We have had more girls qualify for state this year than since I've been here. I think we can do really well at state this year."
Angela Pocta, Christina Rowland and Courtney Ward won individual events for the Lady Panthers.
One highlight from the girls meet was Evans sophomore C.J. Hendry.
Hendry won the 100-yard freestyle, the 100 backstroke and pitched in on the 200 individual medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.
"I think I had a great night," Hendry said. "I had a career best time (in the backstroke) and I think this gives me some momentum heading to state."
Hendry is undefeated in individual events this year and has qualified for five events at state. She is the third swimmer in the state to go under one minute in the 100 backstroke.
Courtney Ward, of Lakeside High School, dives during the CSRA Swimming Championships at the Augusta Aquatic Center. The girls maintained momentum during the meet.
Photo by Kevin Martin
The Lakeside boys regained the CSRA Championship after losing last year to Evans.
"It was tough to lose last year to Evans," said captain Kevin Skenes.
"You hate to lose to rivals, and we wanted to take back the plaque, especially as seniors."
Skenes teamed with fellow seniors Eric Hauff, Austin Banks and J.R. Barrett to win the night's first event, the 200 individual medley. Lakeside edged out Evans and the momentum carried the Panthers throughout the meet, scoring 205.5 points, ahead of Greenbrier (135) and Evans (110).
"We wanted to go out there and swim a great race," Barrett said. "Every time we go up against Evans we are real close. But we edged them out tonight."
The Panthers used a strong relay leg from Banks to beat the Knights, despite Evans having a lead after a strong butterfly leg with Martin Kata.
"Martin is an outstanding swimmer," Skenes said. "When you race against him, you just want to get a big enough lead that he can't take the race away from you."
Lakeside later won the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The Panthers also got a state qualifying effort from Brian Maleck in the 200 individual medley race. Maleck had been a tenth of a second short all season, but made his second state qualifying mark of the past two weeks when he got under the 2:12 qualifying mark. He qualified in the 100 breaststroke the previous weekend in Athens after beating the qualifying mark by 2 seconds.
"I'm so excited," Maleck said. "All of the hard work has paid off in the last week. I can't believe I'm swimming in two events at state."
CSRA Swim Championships Winners
Boys
1. Lakeside, 205.5; 2. Greenbrier , 135.0; 3. Evans, 110.0; 4. Westside, 52.5; 5. Aquinas, 29.0; 6. Davidson Fine Arts, 20.0.
Girls
1. Lakeside, 182.0; 2. Evans, 149.0; 3. Greenbrier, 100.0; 4. Westside, 77.0; 5. Aquinas, 23.0; 6. Davidson Fine Arts, 8.0; 7. Cross Creek, 1.0.
Individual Winners
Boys - 200 Medley Relay; Lakeside; 200 Freestyle-J.R. Barrett, Lakeside; 200 IM-Austin Banks, Lakeside; 50 Free-Martin Kata, Evans; 1-meter diving-Tim Barrett, Greenbrier; 100 Butterfly-Eric Hauff, Lakeside; 100 Free-Kata, Evans; 500 Free-Alex Trakowski, Greenbrier; 200 Free Relay-Evans; 100 Breaststroke-Kevin Skenes, Lakeside; 400 Free Relay-Lakeside.
Girls - 200 Medley Relay; Evans; 200 Free-Nicole Moody, Evans; 200 IM-Angela Pocta, Lakeside; 1-meter diving-Courtney Ward, Lakeside; 100 Free-C.J. Hendry, Evans; 500 Free-Katie Croft, Greenbrier; 100 Back-Hendry, Evans; 100 Breast-Christina Rowland, Lakeside; 400 Free Relay-Evans.