2019 Florida HS 1A Region Roundup: 8th-Grader Pelaez Rolling In Region 4

2019 FHSAA 1A Region CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wed. Oct. 30 – Sat. Nov. 2, 2019
• All State Series Results

The Bolles School won both boys and girls titles in Region 1A and are chasing repeat state titles. South Florida Heat 8th-grader Erika Pelaez is impressing in the sprints.

• Results for all regions
• State Selection Sheet

FHSAA Class 1A Region Champions

• Region 1: Bolles girls & Bolles boys
• Region 2: Berkeley Prep girls & Berkeley Prep boys
• Region 3: Windermere girls & Lake Highland Prep boys
• Region 4: Saint Andrew’s girls & The King’s Academy boys

Class 1A Region Highlights

The breakout star on the girls side is 8th-grader Erika Pelaez, who leads the state psych sheets in the 50 and 100 frees. Pelaez’s previous best times, per USA Swimming, are 23.50 in the 50 and 51.01 in the 100. But the South Florida Heat swimmer dominated Region 4 with wins of 23.01 and 49.67. The 13-year-old was the top performer in any of the four 1A regions by almost a second in the 100. With last year’s champ Andrea Santander moved up to 2A, the door is wide open for Pelaez.

PK Yonge senior Lain Shahboz also had a huge swim, going 4:51.99 in the 500 free to win a tough Region 1. That’s an automatic All-American time and is the top state seed by almost four seconds. She’s also the 100 back leader after going 55.32 at Regions.

The Bolles School won 1A titles for both boys and girls last year, and they look in great shape to repeat. Their girls won 8 of 12 events in Region 1. They lead state psych sheets in all three relays, and sophomore Megan McGrath (1:50.55 in the 200 free) and senior Carly Schwab (1:02.94 in the 100 breast) lead individual events.

For the boys, senior Rafael Nicola Ponce de Leon is the top qualifier into the 200 free (1:39.40) and 500 free (4:28.80) for the defending champs.

King’s Academy sophomore Joshua Zuchowski continues to be the individual standout for the 1A boys. His 1:52.43 leads the boys 200 IM by more than a second. Zuchowski was second at State last year in 1:50.21 and is the top returner. Zuchowski was also 49.81 in the 100 back, and sits first there by 0.03 seconds over PK Yonge’s Trevor McGovern.

Tampa Prep is also led by a sophomore: Logan Tirheimer. He’s the top seed into the 50 free (21.01) and 100 free (46.26), though both project to be tough races.