High school swimming: Barron Collier girls win Class 3A-Region 3 meet; Cougars boys second

The Barron Collier High School girls swimming and diving team only won one event at Saturday’s Region 3A-3 meet, but in the end it was likely the deciding factor between being a regional champion or runner-up.

The 200-yard freestyle team of Maquinn Havig, Lexy Maulsby, Emery Muller and Madison Feehery set one of five program records on the day for the Cougars as they claimed the trophy on the girls side, while the boys finished in second behind powerhouse Venice at the FGCU Aquatics Center.

“It was quite the day. It’s crazy how fast these kids keep going,” Cougars coach Matt Nelson said. “We’re really excited about next week, the kids know what they will be up against in Stuart because a lot of the top kids were right here today. We’ll definitely see some strong schools from Gainesville and schools in that region of the state.”

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To speak to the strength of the region, Zoe Hendrickx’s program record in the 200 individual medley was only good enough for fourth, while Havig’s time in the 100 butterfly earned her a sixth-place finish while setting another Barron Collier record.

However, other top finishes that included Feehery taking second in the 50 freestyle, Havig coming in third in the 100 freestyle, and Emma Feehery placing third in the 500 freestyle amounted in the end to a 294.50 point total to down Venice’s total of 280.

Barron Collier's Mason Laur continued his dominant season as he set a program record with his win in the 100 butterfly and was also victorious in the 200 individual medley.

“Mason had an outstanding day with the record in the butterfly and he was .04 away in the IM today too,” Nelson said.

Laur also played a part in another Barron Collier program record in the 400 freestyle relay, along with Andrew Garner, Anton Sunyak and Jacob Connor that was narrowly beaten out by Venice. The Cougars did score a victory in the 200 medley relay with Laur, Garner, Sunyak and Oscar Madsen getting the best of the regional champion Indians.

Garner was victorious in the 100 breaststroke and took home a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle to likely secure an at-large berth to next week’s state meet.

Estero’s Jewels Carlini continued her impressive freshman season with a victory in the 100 freestyle and added a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle, but for the Wildcats girls it took a team effort in the 400 freestyle relay team to pull off a victory in one of the most competitive races of the day.

With Carlini leading off, fellow freshman Kelsey Swartout and junior Maggi Burnett gave Mikayla Puckett a shot to run down Sunlake and Fort Myers in the final 100 yards. The junior was dead even with Sunlake’s Alex Sprague with 50 yards remaining, but Puckett was able to go by and touch the wall first with a time of 3:36.58.

Gulf Coast’s girls 200 medley relay team of Rachel Moran, Kristi Broadnax, Olivia Owens and Brooke Boling took third to also appear headed to the state meet. Pending results from the other three regions, the full field for the state meet will be determined on Sunday.

Sharks diver Olivia Ricard was narrowly beaten by Osceola’s Carina Luma by 10 points, but the senior committed to Columbia will head to the East Coast in search of a state championship after finishing in the top three the last two seasons.

The 3A state swimming and diving championships will take place Nov. 9 at the Sailfish Splash Waterpark and Aquatics Center in Stuart.

Class 3A-Region 3 meet

at FGCU

Girls

Top 10 team scores

1. Barron Collier 294.50, 2. Venice 280, 3. Sunlake 227.50, 4. Estero 208, 5. Gulf Coast 181, 6. Osceola 178, 7. Fort Myers 163, 8. Freedom 155, 9. Riverdale 97, 10. Clearwater 84

Individual results (AA-A denotes automatic All-American status)

200 Medley Relay: Venice (Sarah Sensenbrenner, Sarah Koenig, Kristen Nutter, Ashley Kephart), 1:48.33, 200 Freestyle: Olivia McMurray (FM), 1:48.77 (AA-A), 200 Individual Medley: Michelle Morgan (F), 2:07.09, 50 Freestyle: Chloe Grimme (S), 23.91, Diving: Carina Luma (O), 477.70 points, 100 Butterfly: Kristen Nutter (V), 56.03, 100 Freestyle: Jewels Carlini (E), 52.19, 500 Freestyle: Olivia McMurray (FM), 4:50.73 (AA-A), 200 Freestyle Relay: Barron Collier (Maquinn Havig, Lexy Maulsby, Emery Muller, Madison Feehery), 1:38.72, 100 Backstroke: Clara Williams (O), 57.16, 100 Breaststroke: Elise Ballash (S), 1:04.11, 400 Freestyle Relay: Estero (Jewels Carlini, Kelsey Swartout, Maggi Burnett, Mikayla Puckett), 3:36.58

Boys

Top 10 team scores

1. Venice 425.50, 2. Barron Collier 278, 3. Charlotte 188.50, 4. Sunlake 169, T5. Seminole 145, T5. Gulf Coast 145, 7. Osceola 135, 8. Mitchell 116, 9. Fort Myers 107, 10. East Lake 93

Individual results

200 Medley Relay: Barron Collier (Oscar Madsen, Andrew Garner, Mason Laur, Anton Sunyak), 1:36.61, 200 Freestyle: Rene Strezenicky (V), 1:41.05, 200 Individual Medley: Mason Lour (BC), 1:52.73, 50 Freestyle: Wesley Kephart (V), 21.24, Diving: Brandon Shepherd (SFM), 410.30 points, 100 Butterfly: Mason Laur (BC), 50.33, 100 Freestyle: Rene Strezenicky (V), 46.74, 500 Freestyle: Arik Katz (V), 4:31.06, 200 Freestyle Relay: Charlotte (Joshua Eaton, Casey Keller, Carl Elsen, Dylan Hacker), 1:29.06, 100 Backstroke: Jay Jay Fonnotto (S), 53.32, 100 Breaststroke: Andrew Garner (BC), 58.53, 400 Freestyle Relay: Venice (Rene Strezenicky, Arik Katz, Wesley Kephart, Ian Brann), 3:08.96