LHS duo, Central advance to State Swim Meet

From staff reports

NASHVILLE — Wilson Central advanced to next month's Tennessee High School State Swimming Championships in Knoxville, where they will be joined by Lebanon sophomores Morgan Tungate and Drew Keil.

They posted qualifying finishes in the Mid-State Regional Championships last Friday at Centennial Sportsplex.

Central had the best combined team times of the Wilson County teams. The Wildcats will join Tungate and Keil in Knoxville Feb. 8-9.

Sophomores Eli Rawls and Jake Bartow led Central.

Rawls finished fifth in the 100 butterfly in :54.14 and fifth in the 10 breaststroke in 1:01.48. Bartow was seventh in the 200 freestyle in 1:51.1 and 13th in the 100 butterfly in :57.18.

Competing with them in the 200 medley and 200 free relays were senior Caleb Groom and sophomore Hayden Leckenby, who finished 12th in the medley in 1:50.4 and 14th in the free in 1:37.17.

Individually, Groom was 59th in the 50 free in :25.12 and 26th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.82. Leckenby's time in the 50 free was :26.01 and :58.3 in the 100 freestyle.

On the girls' side, Central junior Autumn Glass was 26th and sophomore Jasmine Gebhardt 31th out of 187 swimmers in the 50 freestyle. Glass finished the 100 free in :59.87 while Gebhardt dropped 6.15 seconds in her 100 free time to 1:01.66.

Sophomore Miranda Royce swam the 200 IM in 2:34.54 and the 100 butterfly in 1:12.71. Senior Elizabeth Burkett finished the 50 free in :30.92 and the 100 breast in 1:17.23. Sophomore Hanna King swam the 100 free in 1:08.24 and the 100 back in 1:17.23.

Gebhardt, Royce, Burkett and Glass were 16th in the 1:54.61 in the free relay. King, Burkett, Royce and Glass were 20th in the medley relay in 2:09.86.

For Lebanon, Tungate finished 16th in the 200 free in 2:10.46 and the 500 free in 5:54.15. Keil tied for 30th out of 116 swimmers in the 100 free in :55.28 and 21st in the 100 back in 1:03.43.

Freshman Harmony Filson swam :31.5 in the 50 free and 1:10.04 in the 100 free. Sophomore Hayley Gatlin swam 2:56.05 in the 200 IM and 1:18 in the 100 back. Freshman Caroline Sanders swam 1:23.33 in the 100 breast while sophomore Sara Strickland turned in times of :30.55 in the 50 free and 1:25.37 in the 100 breast.

On the boys' side, sophomore Griffin Duvall swam a 2:47.45 in the 200 IM and 1:19.07 in the 100 breast. Sophomore Taylor White swam the 50 free in :29.44 and Tom Wilson turned in a 1:17.88 in the 100 breast.