2021 Georgia Senior State Meet (Combined)
- March 19 – 21, 2021
- Site 1: Cumming Aquatic Center, Cumming, Georgia
- Site 2: Georgia Tech McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
- Short Course Yard (SCY)
- Day 1 Results
- Day 2 Results
- Day 3 Results
A number of SCY Georgia records fell over the weekend in a variety of age categories at the 2021 Sr. State Championships. The meet was raced across two sites: one in Cumming, Georgia and the other at the Georgia Tech MacAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
One such record came from SwimAtlanta’s Sebastien Sergile who won the 200 fly in a 1:44.05. That time got under Gunnar Bentz‘s 17-18-year-old state record of 1:45.72 from back in 2013. Sergile went into the meet with a 1:45.01 PB which he swam in December 2020.
That same day, Dynamo Swim club’s Rye Ulett lowered the 15-16 age group state record in the 100 IM from her and Danielle Della Torre‘s shared mark of 56.35 to a 55.66. She actually broke the record twice, however, having gone a 56.32 in the prelims to first break the record.
SwimAtlanta’s Gigi Johnson was responsible for another record this weekend, hitting a 1:57.73 in the 200 IM final to take out Mary Ellen Blanchard‘s 1990 15-16-year-old record of 1:58.03. Johnson improved upon her best time going into the meet of 1:58.41 which was swum in February of this year.
Alicia Henry, swimming for Dynamo was responsible for 2 new records this weekend as she downed the 17-18-year-old record in both the 100 breast and 100 IM. She lowered Taylor Schick’s 2012 100 IM record of 56.90 to a 56.90 and took her own record in the 100 breast from a 1:00.70 to a 1:00.51. Interestingly, Henry also holds the 15-16-year-old 100 breast record which is faster than her 17-18 mark since she swam a 1:00.20 last year as a 16-year-old.
The final individual state record this weekend went to Jack Aikins in the 17-18 200 backstroke. Aikin first broke the record in the prelims with a 1:40.57 to get under Ian Grum‘s 1:40.89 from 2020. He then lowered it again in the final as he broke 1:40 for the first time with a 1:39.85. Aikins PB heading into the meet was a 1:40.92 from December.
While neither Sebastien Sergile nor Gigi Johnson has announced plans to swim collegiately following their 2022 high school graduations, the other two record-breakers; Ulett and Aikins will be heading to Louisville and Virginia, respectively. Ulett will join the Cardinals in the fall of 2022 and Aikins will be heading to UVA in fall 2021.
Along with the 4 individual records that fell this weekend, the Swim Atlanta 17-18 boys 400 medley relay threw down a 3:14.22 swim to break the previous mark of 3:19.06. Together Jack Aikins, Matthew Steele, Sebastien Sergile, and TJ Pittenger took the record from Taylor Delk, Jared Clance, Andrew Huenniger, and Alex Taylor.
Adding to her record-breaking 100 IM, Rye Ulett also won the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke at the meet. In the 200 freestyle, Ulett was a 1:48.11 to take gold, just off her best time of 1:47.30 and just ahead of second-place finisher Anna Summers who was a 1:48.23 for the Aiken-Augusta Swim League. Abigail McCulloh from SwimAtlanta rounded out the top three with a 1:48.83.
Ulett’s third win came in the 200 backstroke when she swam a 1:52.85 in the finals. With that swim, she was a bit off the 1:51.84 that she swam in March 2020.
Alicia Henry added to her 100 breaststroke gold by sweeping the breaststroke events over the course of the weekend. Henry won the 50/200 breasts with times of 28.03 and 2:12.58. Both were new best times for Henry, improving upon her marks going into the meet of 28.51 and 2:13.85.
Henry will be swimming for Cal starting in the fall of 2021 and will be a solid addition to the team, joining leading breaststroker Ema Rajic while taking over for current senior breaststrokers Ali Harrison and Natalie Tuck. Cal recently won the 2021 Pac-12 women’s team title and had Henry swum her recent time there, she would have placed 5th in the 100 breast and 8th in the 200 breast.
Another notable swimmer who raced this weekend was 3 time US Olympian Amanda Weir. Weir posted the quickest times in both the 50 and 100 freestyles with a 22.62 and 48.86, respectively. She won the 50 by about half a second, beating fellow SwimAtlanta swimmer Gigi Johnson‘s 23.10 and Dynamo’s Peyton Curry who was a 23.15.
In the 100, her 48.86 was more than a second quicker than second-place finisher Rachel Fulton (50.02) and third-place finisher Gigi Johnson (50.04).
On the boy’s side, Jack Aikins picked up additional wins in the 50 freestyle, the 100 fly, and the 100 back. Aikins was the only sub-20 swim in the 50 freestyle final, hitting a 19.83 to be just off his PB of 19.68. He won the 100 fly with a 47.64 and the backstroke with a 46.97 which was two and a half seconds ahead of Dynamo’s Idris Muhannad for second place (49.28).
Adding to his 200 butterfly victory and state record, Sebastien Sergile won the boy’s 200 freestyle, hitting a 1:35.91, beating Dynamo’s Owen Mcdonald‘s 1:36.61, and Roman Valdez‘s 1:36.63 for second and third, respectively.
And Leah Gingrich negative split her 200 FL.
Mary Ellen Blanchard.
Thank you. That was killing me seeing it wrong twice.