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Lexi Coon.
Jag Justin Zhang swims the freestyle leg of the 200 individual medley.
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Lexi Coon.
Ward Lockhart of Spain Park reacts to his time and place after winning the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:38.88.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Bailey Deas starts her leg of the 400 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Ramsey El-Fallah, who also competed in diving, takes off for the second leg of the 400 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Caroline Lawrence swims the freestyle leg of the 200 individual medley.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Justin Zhang swims the breaststroke portion of the 200 individual medley.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Kathryn Chambers dives in for breaststroke during the 200 medley relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Ward Lockhart won the 7A 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:38.88.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Ward Lockart and Justin Zhang cheer for teammate Austin Stallworth during the 200 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Rebel Adeline Carroll cheers on Hoover friend Ariana Zamani during her 200 individual medley.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Ali Ouellette swims the 500 yard freestyle.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Austin Stallworth starts the final leg of the 400 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Jag Ramsey El-Fallah, who also competed in diving, swims the second leg of the 400 freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Abby Strohmeier races in the 200 yard freestyle.
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Lexi Coon.
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Lexi Coon.
Jag Austin Stallworth starts the 100 yard freestyle.
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Lexi Coon.
The team of Erica Han, Ariana Zamani, Ali Ouellette and Caroline Lawrence, of Hoover, placed third in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:41.14.
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Lexi Coon.
Ariana Zamani of Hoover swims the 500 yard freestyle.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Erica Han starts the 50 yard freestyle.
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Lexi Coon.
Jag Austin Stallworth reviews his time after the 100 yard freestyle. Stallworth placed fifth with a time of 48.66.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park freshman Katie Groves dives in for the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Spain Park's Justin Zhang swims the 100 yard backstroke.
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Lexi Coon.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Caroline Lawrence starts her leg of the 400 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Ariana Zamani swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 individual medley.
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Lexi Coon.
Jag Austin Stallworth takes a breath during the 400 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Buc Caronline Lawnrence stands ready for her leg of the 400 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Ariana Zamani prepares for her leg of the 200 yard freestyle relay.
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Lexi Coon.
Jag Ward Lockhart swims the 500 yard freestyle.
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Lexi Coon.
Hoover's Erica Han swims the 100 yard freestyle.
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Lexi Coon.
Buc Ali Ouellette prepares to dive in for her leg of the 200 yard freestyle relay.
To cap off the season, local swimmers competed for their high schools at Auburn University on Dec. 1-2. Spain Park walked away with a state championship and a record-breaking swim by sophomore Ward Lockhart.
Hoover High School, under the direction of coach Lori McCombs, had 11 swimmers qualify for the meet and eight made finals. Spain Park’s coach Sally Mathias took 14 swimmers and three divers, and 12 competed in swimming finals while all three divers made the top 16. One student, eighth grader Ramsey El-Fallah, competed in both swimming and diving.
Starting with the girls 200-meter medley relay, Spain Park placed sixth and Hoover took 16th place. Jag Abby Brown Strohmeier, a sophomore, then placed sixth in the girls 200 freestyle shortly before fellow sophomore Ward Lockhart finished second in the boys 200 freestyle.
Spain Park senior Bailey Deas placed eighth in the girls 200 individual medley, as well as Hoover freshmen Ariana Zamani and Caroline Lawrence earning seventh and 14th, respectively, in the same event. Jag Justin Zhang then placed tenth in the boys 200 individual medley.
Hoover freshman Erica Han later took tenth in the 50 freestyle and followed that swim with a fifth place finish in the 100 freestyle. Spain Park’s Austin Stallworth, a sophomore, took fifth in the 50 freestyle, followed by Evan Trueb, a junior, who claimed 16th.
The Jags also had two swimmers compete in the 100 butterfly: senior Bailey Deas, who placed fourth, and freshman Katie Groves, who placed tenth. Strohmeier returned in the following event, the girls 100 freestyle, to claim eighth, and Stallworth placed fifth overall in the boys equivalent.
The Bucs had two freshmen in the 500 freestyle, too. Zamani claimed fifth place after a two-second decrease from her prelims race time and Ali Ouellette earned 11th place. Spain Park seventh grader Carson Muir took ninth after swimming nearly six seconds faster than her prelims time.
Spain Park then earned their state champion title for the weekend when Lockhart dropped over two seconds from his prelims 500 freestyle swim to go a 4:38.88, winning by over eight seconds. He also broke the Class 6A-7A record for the event.
Hoover earned their spot on the podium in the following race.
The Bucs’ 200 girls freestyle relay team of Han, Zamani, Ouellette and Lawrence came together to drop over two seconds and earned third in the state. Lawrence, who anchored the relay, barely out-touched a swimmer from James Clemens to claim their place by 0.21 seconds.
Spain Park’s girls relay took 14th in the same event, and the boy’s team of Lockhart, Trueb, Zhang and Stallworth placed second with a time of 1:28.83.
Zhang swam the last individual event of the day for Spain Park and Hoover, placing eighth in the 100 backstroke.
For the final event, the Jags claimed eighth place in the girls 400 freestyle relay and the Bucs capped off the meet with their final race with a ninth-place finish in the same event. Spain Park boys took fifth.
Spain Park also had three divers compete at the state meet: Zachary El-Fallah, who placed second; Jon Pickett, who placed sixth; and Ramsey El-Fallah, who placed 13th. Ramsey El-Fallah also swam in the 400 free relay in both prelims and finals.
While McCombs said the highlight of the meet for her was watching the 200 free relay make podium, she said it was a great experience to go out and cheer on her swimmers even though she might not be their year-round coach.
“It’s unbelievable what all they go through to make themselves elite athletes,” she said. “It was absolutely a wonderful experience for me because I know what’s going on and I get to be their biggest fan.”
Mathias said she was pleased with everyone’s events and is looking forward to next year.
“I was very pleased with my swimmers’ performance and I think it was one of the best teams we’ve had in recent years,” she said, noting Spain Park has a young team with just two senior girls. “I just plan on them all improving.”
