Local swimmers snag state titles

Kyle Dawson, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·3 min read

Oct. 16—Aiken High's Jared Allison and South Aiken's Kaitlyn Golyski each won state championships this past week at the Class AAAA swim championships in North Charleston.

Allison's time of 50.84 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly was good enough for a state title for the sophomore, who helped Aiken's boys to an eighth-place finish. Golyski won the 50 freestyle in 24.13 to add to her titles in the 100 and 200 from last year. She led South Aiken's girls to a 15th-place finish.

South Aiken's boys were the best local team finisher, taking sixth place, with Aiken not far behind. Strom Thurmond took 18th in Class AAA.

Zane Leigh led the T-Breds with a seventh-place finish in the 100 backstroke and eighth in the 100 butterfly to go with two-point earning relays. He teamed with Wesley Oakley, Andru Masterson and Ethan Parker for a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley relay, and he, Ethan Parker, Grant Parker and Masterson took seventh in the 200 freestyle relay.

The team of Grant Parker, Cooper Messick, Alex Trippi and Matias Jokulis took ninth in the 400 freestyle relay.

Masterson added a ninth-place finish in the 200 individual medley and an 11th in the 100 freestyle; Ethan Parker was 13th in the 50 freestyle and 16th in the 100 freestyle; Jokulis was 11th in the 500 freestyle; Grant Parker was 16th in the 100 backstroke; Wesley Oakley was 19th in the 50 freestyle; Messick was 20th in the 200 freestyle; and Trippi was 20th in the 200 individual medley.

For Aiken, Allison added a runner-up finish in the 200 individual medley to go with his butterfly championship. He, Tucker Samaha, Daly Pardue and Sean Spears teamed up to finish third in the 200 freestyle relay and fifth in the 200 medley relay. Samaha had two runner-up finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle.

For Strom Thurmond, Tyler Dean took 12th in the 100 freestyle and 19th in the 100 breaststroke. The team of Dawson Kulp, Cole Mims, William Carroll and Jake Mims finished 13th in the 200 freestyle relay.

Aiken's girls matched the boys with an eighth-place finish. Amelia Harper led the way for the Hornets with a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke and a fifth in the 200 individual medley. She also teamed with Violet Childers, Gina Hofstetter and Ainsley Warden to take fifth in the 200 freestyle relay and eighth in the 200 medley relay.

Hofstetter added a 12th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke and a 13th in the 100 butterfly, and Warden was 11th in the 100 breaststroke and 20th in the 50 freestyle.

For South Aiken, Golyski added a runner-up finish in the 100 freestyle to go with her state championship in the 50.

The T-Breds had three different point-scoring relay combinations: Adelyn Parker, Caroline Kidd, Emma Reide and Annie Hobson were 13th in the 400 freestyle relay; Hobson, Parker, Emma Gunsallus and Kidd were 17th in the 200 freestyle relay; and Kidd, Emily Bohman, Gunsallus and Parker were 19th in the 200 medley relay.

Hobson added a 15th-place finish in the 100 freestyle.

North Augusta placed 23rd, with Lauren Lusk earning points with a 17th-place finish in the 500 freestyle.

Strom Thurmond took 16th in Class AAA, led by Taylor Dean's 11th-place finish in the 100 backstroke and 12th-place finish in the 100 freestyle. Dean, Lauren Strock, Eliza Holmes and Rylee Raines were 14th in the 200 medley relay, and Dean, Strock, Hartley Byrd and Holmes were 16th in the 200 freestyle relay.