Bob Jones Girls Win Swim State Championship- Chan Sisters Lead Lady Patriots To Victory
MADISON- Girls swimming is alive and well in Madison. Matter of fact, so is boys swimming, but it’s the girls’ program that shined brighter at the 64th AHSAA State swimming and Diving Meet held on the Auburn University campus.
The girls from Bob Jones won their second consecutive state championship by taking home five gold medals on its way to a 50-point team scoring victory over runner-up Auburn. The James Clemens Lady Jets scored 202.5 points giving them a fourth-place team finish.
The Madison Academy Lady Mustangs, with a small team representation at the State Meet, finished sixth with 100 points in Class 1-5A as Amelia Maddox won two individual first place medals.
In boys, James Clemens finished third behind State Champion Huntsville, which easily outdistanced the competition by winning its eighth consecutive state title. To put in perspective the Huntsville victory, the Panthers tallied 348 points compared to the Jets’ third place finish with 221 points and the 174 points scored by fourth place Bob Jones. Nearby Sparkman scored 14 points with one swimmer to place No. 24.
For Bob Jones, highlight of the action inside the James E. Martin Aquatics Center came from senior Samantha Chan and her sister, freshman Abby Chan. Samantha won a gold medal in the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.98, which was just slightly less than a second faster than runner-up Abby with her time of 54.78. Abby took first place in the 100 backstroke with a winning time of 55.71.
The Chan sisters were also on the two relay teams which took home gold. The relay team of Abby Chan, Finnley Koehler, Samantha Chan and Meli Mbuko set a new state record with a time of 1:44.68 in the 200 medley relay. The Chans, along with Peyton Brady and Emile Tesseneer, teamed up to win the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:34.71.
Senior Peyton Brady also won an individual state title winning the 500 freestyle at 5:11.37. Senior Michael Tretyakov won the lone gold medal for the Bob Jones boys with a time of 49.50 in the 100 back stroke.
For Madison Academy, Maddox took first place honors in both the 100 breaststroke (1:05.42) and 100 butterfly (58.73).
Listed here are the final results from the four local schools with top three medal performances:
Girls: 200 medley relay 6-7A- 1. Bob Jones, 1:44.68 (Abby Chan, Fr., Finnley Koehler, Jr., Samantha Chan, Sr., Meli Mbuko, So.); 200 IM 1-5A- 2. Bella Daniel, Madison Academy, 2:14.54; 200 IM 6-7A- 3. Samantha Chan, Sr., Bob Jones, 2:04.29; 50 freestyle 6-7A- 2. Meli Mbuko, So., Bob Jones, 23.58; 100 butterfly 1-5A- 1. Amelia Maddox, Madison Academy, 58.73; 100 butterfly 6-7A- 1. Samantha Chan, Sr., Bob Jones, 53.98, 2. Abby Chan, Fr., Bob Jones, 54.78; 500 freestyle 6-7A- 1. Peyton Brady, Sr., Bob Jones, 5:11.37; 200 freestyle relay 6-7A- 3. James Clemens, 1:40.22 (Renee Drayton, Jr., Annabelle Jensen, 8, Rosa Levan, Jr., Isabelle Park, So.); 100 backstroke 1-5A- 2. Bella Daniel, Madison Academy, 1:00.62; 100 backstroke 6-7A- 1. Abby Chan, Fr., Bob Jones, 55.71, 3. Emile Tesseneer, So., Bob Jones, 59.43; 100 breaststroke 1-5A- 1. Amelia Maddox, Madison Academy, 1:05.42; 400 freestyle relay 6-7A- 1. Bob Jones, 3:34.71 (Abby Chan, Fr., Peyton Brady, Sr., Emilie Tesseneer, So., Samantha Chan, Sr.).
Boys: 100 breaststroke 6-7A- 2. Juston Roh, Jr., Bob Jones, 58.58; 100 backstroke 6-7A- 1. Michael Tretyakov, Sr., Bob Jones, 49.50, 3. Christian Wester, So., James Clemens, 51.62; 200 freestyle relay 6-7A- 2. James Clemens, 1:26.94 (Alex Kulkarni, Jr., Christian Wester, So., Nathan Johnson, Sr., Cade McComb, Sr.); 50 freestyle 6-7A- 2. Cade McComb, Sr., James Clemens, 20.36, 3. Michael Tretyakov, Sr., Bob Jones, 20.61; 200 medley relay 6-7A- 2. James Clemens, 1:29.71 (Christian Wester, So., Omar Elsayed, Sr., Alex Kulkarni, Jr., Cade McComb, Sr.), 3. Bob Jones, 1:36.65 (Michael Tretyakov, Sr., Justin Roh, Jr., Braden Shankleton, Jr., William Yang, Fr.).
In all, Bob Jones took home 13 medals, James Clemens 5 and Madison Academy 4. The final team scores included: Girls 6-7A- 1. Bob Jones 298, 4. James Clemens 202.50; Boys 6-7A- 3. James Clemens 221, 4. Bob Jones 174, 24. Sparkman 14; Girls 1-5A- 6. Madison Academy 100.
