Surry Central’s Anthony Escobar competes in the 100-yard butterfly.
Cory Smith | The News
PILOT MOUNTAIN — The Forbush Swim teams competed in a conference meet last Monday. The evening was extra special for seniors from competing teams East Surry and Surry Central as they were recognized during the Foothills 2A Conference swim meet.
Both the Cardinals and Eagles utilize the Armfield Civic Center as their home pool, which allowed for dual Senior Night festivities.
Surry Central had two male and two female seniors recognized: Abraham Mendez, Anthony Escobar, Joanna Arroyo and Audrey Poindexter. East Surry honored two female swimmers: Savannah Raths and Alex Lynch. Lynch was unable to attend the meet, but was still recognized.
The team standings were the same for both the girls and boys’ meets with East Surry finishing first, Surry Central taking second and Forbush coming in third.
In individual races: swimmers were awarded 8 points for first place, 6 for second, 5 for third, 4 for fourth, 3 for fifth and 2 for sixth. Those amounts doubled for relay races.
Girls results
1. East Surry Cardinals 113
2. Surry Central Golden Eagles 93
3. Forbush Falcons 66
East Surry’s girls won 6-of-11 races to propel the Lady Cards to victory. Surry Central came in a close second with four first-place finishes, followed by Forbush with one win.
The Cardinals’ six wins comprised of two relay races and four individual events.
In relays, East Surry won the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. The Cards won the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:16.75, followed by Surry Central at 2:22.17 and Forbush at 2:32.17, then took the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:51.97 to Forbush’s 5:15.25.
Surry Central won the 200 freestyle relay over East Surry with a time of 2:03.22.
Claire Hull and Haley Joyce combined for two individual wins each for East Surry. Hull took first in the 200 individual medley at 2:31.28, then won the 100 freestyle with a time of 1:02.47. Central’s Poindexter took second in the 100 free with a time of 1:11.21.
Joyce’s wins came in the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Joyce and Arroyo were the only two to finish the 500 freestyle in less than seven minutes; Joyce’s time of 6:31.35 earned the gold medal, while Arroyo’s 6:38.71 earned silver.
Joyce then ran away with the 100 backstroke. Her time of 1:11.51 was 20.05 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Central, in addition to winning the 200 freestyle relay, took home the gold in the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke.
Golden Eagle Mallory Cave won both of her individual events. Cave’s 200 freestyle time of 2:13.03 was 19.24 seconds faster than second place, but the 100 butterfly race was much closer. Cave won the event with a time of 1:10.10, and East’s Aby Caro was second at 1:16.22.
Arroyo won the 100 backstroke for the Eagles with a time of 1:27.58. East Surry’s Riley Yard finished second at 1:38.01, and Central’s Dafne Salgado-Perez finished third at 1:46.50.
Forbush’s lone win came in the 50 freestyle. The Falcons’ Samantha Post won comfortably at 30.75 seconds, then the next three spots were decided by just .47 seconds. Forbush’s Katena Morrison finished at 33.13 seconds, followed by East’s Elise Marion at 33.21 seconds and Central’s Kayli Grizzell at 33.50 seconds.
Boys results
1. East Surry Cardinals 139
2. Surry Central Golden Eagles 75
3. Forbush Falcons 65
East Surry’s boys won all 11 events for the commanding victory.
In relay races: East opened with a 2:03.26 performance in the 200 medley relay, which was 24.86 seconds faster than Forbush and 27.58 seconds ahead of Surry Central; the Cardinals won the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:57.70, followed by the Eagles at 2:10.47; and East Surry won the 400 freestyle relay at 4:18.26 – 59.96 seconds ahead of Forbush and more than a minute faster than Surry Central.
Individually: Andrew Needham, Colby Goins and Aiden Richardson each won two races, and Jonathan Parker and Gavin Atkins each won one.
Parker started things off with a 2:31.69 time in the 200 freestyle. Forbush’s Logan Boles took second at 3:02.19.
Richardson won his first race, the 200 individual medley, with a time of 2:36.95. Second place finished nearly a minute later. Richardson went on to win the 500 freestyle as well with a time of 6:33.01. Teammate Derek Freeman finished second in that race at 7:10.94.
Atkins overcame a bumpy start in the 50 freestyle to win .30 seconds with a time of 27.09. Atkins later finished second in the 100 freestyle with only his teammate Goins ahead of him.
Goins was the only swimmer to finish in less than a minute in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.44 seconds. Goins’ second win was in the 100 backstroke. Goins took first at 1:08.93, and Freeman won second for the Cardinals at 1:36.44.
Needham’s two victories came in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. His 1:03.39 backstroke time won the event over Central’s Abraham Mendez, and Needham’s performance of 58.06 seconds in the 100 butterfly topped Central’s Escobar.
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