Area swimmers, divers shine at state meet -- Observer Preps

The Florida High School Swimming and Diving State Championships took place last weekend in Stuart, and several area individuals and teams made a strong showing for Southwest Orange County.

The highlight of the weekend was the Olympia girls team placing fourth in the state at the Class 4A meet. The Titans boys team also placed 25th, while the Dr. Phillips girls team 16th and the Panthers boys team placed 17th in the state.

Although no individual state champions came from the coverage area, the meet featured a number of silver, bronze and other top performances.

Olympia divers Kara Holt and Jack Dowd placed second (girls) and third (boys), respectively. Sofia Bernard earned two individual bronze medals at the meet in the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle and also placed as a member of two relay teams. Rutgers commit Delaney Carey earned third place in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Olympia’s girls team placed third in the state in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the combination of Bernard, Samantha Schieffelin, Zoe Sherman and Bella Placencia. Additionally, the Titans’ 200-yard medley relay team of Ana Romero, Carey, Placencia and Sherman placed fifth.

For Dr. Phillips, senior Jake Meisenheimer set a new school record in the 200-yard freestyle, ultimately placing fourth in the state with a time of 1:41.21. Not to be forgotten is the Panthers girls team’s 200-yard freestyle relay team, which placed fifth in the state and consisted of Kayla Smith, Caroline Grzeszczak, Roseleen Olivares and Maddie Magrino. The 1:38.35 time posted by the relay team was its fastest of the year.

For West Orange, diver Courtney Russo placed seventh in the state in Class 4A at the state meet Nov. 5.