2024 NCISAA Division II State Champs
- February 12, 2024
- Greensboro, NC
- 25 yards (SCY)
- Meet Central
- Results
The North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) hosted its Division II Swimming State Championships back in February, bringing together the fastest swimmers from each of the division’s 20 member schools.
Girls Recap
For the second straight year, Asheville School’s girls team took home the state championship title, emerging victorious with 373 points.
The team’s success over the course of the meet was helped in large part by Ginny Thorsen, Asheville’s top scorer of the meet.
Thorsen, a senior committed to Davidson College, racked up 40 points for her team through three victories and one runner-up finish. She took home two individual state titles, winning both the 200 free in a time of 1:57.12 and the 500 free in a time of 5:10.95.
Thorsen helped Asheville to victory in the 400 free relay, serving as the leadoff, with the team touching first by five full seconds in a time of 3:43.86. She was joined by teammates Abigail Smith, Gillian McCormick and Eloise Durham.
Durham, Thorsen and Smith also joined forces in the 200 free relay, where they took 2nd-place with the help of freshman teammate Lucy Lynam. The team touched in a time of 1:40.54, finishing less than 0.2 seconds behind Forsyth’s 1st-place relay team.
Durham was another top scorer for Asheville throughout the meet, posting an individual runner-up finish and a 3rd-place finish in addition to her contributions to the relays. Durham, a sophomore on the team, was runner-up in the 100 free with a time of 55.11 and took 3rd in the 50 free with a time of 24.72.
Another notable swimmer of the meet was Forsyth Country Day School’s Selah Austin. Scoring 37 points for the team, Austin helped Forsyth to its runner-up finish overall with three victories and one 2nd-place.
Selah won the 100 fly in a season best time of 58.05, edging out the runner-up by 0.4 seconds. She took 2nd in the 50 free with a time of 23.89, just behind the winning time of 23.78 posted by Riley Ramseur of Greensboro Day School.
Selah also contributed to two Forsyth relay victories. She swam the butterfly leg in the 200 medley relay, where she was joined by teammates Anika Pawa, Katie Reader and Audrey Cavanaugh. The team secured the state championship title with a time of 1:52.36, touching first by nearly three seconds.
Selah, Pawa and Cavanaugh were joined by Anna Hollan to take home a victory in the 200 free relay; they won in a time of 1:40.38, narrowly edging out Asheville’s time of 1:40.54.
Other Event Winners
- Ramseur swept the sprint freestyle events with victories in the 50 free (23.78) and 100 free (53.75). In addition to her individual wins, Ramseur contributed to runner-up finishes in both the 200 medley relay (1:55.02), alongside Madison Jones, Hayden Lowe and Reece Ramseur, and the 400 free relay (3:48.87), alongside Katie Wile, Ramseur and Jones.
- Lucy Brown from Southlake Christian Academy took home the championship title in the 200 IM with a personal best time of 2:13.38. She went on to post a runner-up finish in the 100 fly, turning in another personal best with a time of 58.46.
- Forsyth junior Pawa snagged an individual win in the 100 back to accompany her two relay victories. She won in a personal best time of 1:00.11, over half a second ahead of runner-up Reece Ramseur.
- Thales Academy’s Grace Yu won the 100 breast in a time of 1:12.64, touching over three seconds ahead of 2nd-place Lillian Robinson. Yu’s only other race at the meet was the 100 back, in which she placed 5th with a time of 1:03.92.
Top 10 Girls Team Scores
- Asheville School – 373
- Forsyth Country Day School – 351
- Greensboro Day School – 234
- Cary Christian School – 186
- Calvary Day School – 147
- Asheville Christian Academy – 130
- Southlake Christian Academy – 122
- Grace Christian School (Raleigh) – 116
- Cape Fear Academy – 109
- Hickory Grove Christian School – 84
Boys Recap
The Forsyth Country Day’s boys swim team made school history by taking home the state championship title for the first time in program history. Their victory also broke the previous reigning champion Asheville School’s five year win streak.
Leading the way for Forsyth was senior Thaddeus Austin, posting four victories and scoring 40 points for his team. An Auburn University commit, Austin swept the sprint freestyle events; he won the 50 in a time of 20.53 and the 100 in a time of 45.51, both personal bests for him.
Austin raced on two winning relay teams, contributing to Forsyth’s victory in both the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay.
On the medley relay, he led off in the backstroke leg and was followed by teammates Erik Petruzzi, Parker Gaillard and Alec Jin. The team won in a time of 1:37.79, just over five seconds ahead of the runner-up team from Greensboro Day School.
The medley relay turned out to be an interesting race as far as splits were concerned, as several of the fastest splits were not swam by the winning relay team. The fastest 50 free split in the field (22.46) was thrown down by Jonah Herzog, the anchor for Asheville Christian Academy’s 3rd-place team. Owen Henderson, the anchor for the 5th-place team from Calvary Day School, also posted a notable split of 22.83, significantly faster than Jin’s closing split of 24.14.
Austin, Gaillard and Petruzzi were joined by Harris Breitling for the 200 free relay, edging ahead of the Asheville team to take home the championship title with a time of 1:28.22.
Petruzzi, a West Virginia University commit, was also a major contributor to Forsyth’s success. Aside from his role on the relays, he posted one victory and one runner-up finish in his individual races.
Petruzzi won the 100 breast in a time of 56.88; he touched over four seconds ahead of 2nd-place, making him the only competitor in the field to go under a minute. Petruzzi also took 2nd in the 200 IM with a time of 1:56.33 behind Gaston Christian School’s Eli Sweet, who won in a time of 1:55.69.
Cary Christian School sophomore Joshua Ju was another notable swimmer at the meet, turning in an individual victory and a runner-up finish, as well as two 3rd-place relay finishes.
Ju took home the championship title in the 100 fly in a time of 52.30 after placing 2nd in the 200 free with a time of 1:43.81. He also raced on the 200 free relay, taking 3rd alongside Justin Lee, Kevin Nguyen and Bobby Elder. Ju, Lee and Elder were joined by Jacob Stewart on the 400 free relay for another 3rd-place finish, touching in a time of 3:28.27.
Other Event Winners
- Alex Luebke, a junior at St. Davids School, secured the victory in the 200 free with a time of 1:43.64. Luebke’s performance narrowly edged out Ju, who took 2nd in a time of 1:43.81. Luebke also turned in a runner-up finish in the 500 free, touching in a time of 4:45.05.
- The 500 free championship title went to Sweet, who won in a personal best time of 4:41.12. His performance in the 500 landed him his second individual victory of the day after having won the 200 IM just a few events prior.
- Wake Christian Academy sophomore Ethan Holloway breezed past his competitors to win the 100 back by 3.5 seconds. He touched in a personal best time of 52.73, definitely ahead of runner-up Martin Moran, a senior at Asheville School, who posted a time of 56.27.
- The 400 free relay championship title went to Asheville Christian Academy. The school’s lone victory of the meet was secured by the team of seniors Sebastian Frank, Herzog and Caleb Trunnell and junior Caleb Reeley, who won in a time of 3:20.06.
Top 10 Boys Team Scores
- Forsyth Country Day School – 310
- Asheville School – 296
- Asheville Christian Academy – 246
- Calvary Day School – 169
- Cary Christian School – 162
- Cape Fear Academy – 149
- Grace Christian School (Raleigh) – 139
- Greensboro Day School – 118
- Gaston Christian School – 109
- St David’s School – 98
