The Florida High School Athletic Association’s 2017 state meet series is in full swing, with the Class 3A regional meets now complete. The top 24 swimmers from the combined regions will move on to the Class 3A State Swimming and Diving Championships.
Below are the links you need to view regional meet results and state qualifiers, as well as a list of regional champions and a few highlights from the meets.
NOTE: This article covers class 3A only. You can find the class 1A regional wrap up here, the 2A wrap up here, and the 4A wrap up here.
- Results for all district and regional meets
- SwimSwam state series preview
- State meet selection sheet
- 2016 State Series Results
FHSAA CLASS 3A REGIONAL CHAMPIONS
- Region 1: Chiles boys, Creekside girls
- Region 2: Sebastian River boys, New Smyrna Beach girls
- Region 3: Venice High boys, Sunlake girls
- Region 4: Doral Academy boys, Martin County girls
CLASS 3A REGIONAL MEET HIGHLIGHTS
Region 1 Meet:
Bartram Trail’s Summer Stanfield picked up gold in both of her individual races. In the 200 IM, she met the All-American Consideration standard with her 2:02.24. Stanfield followed that up by setting the pace in the 100 back, turning in a 56.83 to win it ahead of Creekside’s Abbey Ellis (58.43).
Teammate Jack VanDeusen also put up an AA-C time with his victory in the 500 free. VanDeusen smashed his best time, taking 11 seconds off his former best to win it in 4:29.83. He also won the 200 IM earlier in the session, posting a 1:52.65 to swim a best time by nearly 4 seconds.
Defending state champion Alena Kraus of Gainesville picked up a pair of freestyle wins. Kraus won the 200 free handily, leading from start to finish as she touched in 1:52.07. She returned to win the 100 free, finishing nearly a full second ahead of the field in 51.48.
Chiles’ John Yambor-Maul helped his team to victory with his sweep of the sprints. Yambor-Maul powered to a lifetime best in the 50 free, winning in 21.66. He was within 3 tenths of his best in the 100 free, coming from behind to outswim Niceville’s Quintin Scholz (47.39) with a winning time of 47.26. Teammate Ryland Sun contributed a pair of wins, putting up a 50.32 in the 100 fly to come within a half second of his best time. He also won the 100 back in 52.08 and threw down a personal best 48.11 in the 100 free on the 400 free relay leadoff.
Region 2 Meet:
Sebastian River’s Ethan McCloud helped his team take the regional title with his individual wins in the 200 IM and 100 back. He used his backstroke speed to take the edge over the field in the 200 IM, touching in 2:00.85 for the win. McCloud then won the 100 back in 53.99.
Freshman teammate Mia Martinelli swept the sprints on the girls’ side. Martinelli rolled to a 24.70 in the 50 free and 53.14 in the 100 free. That marked her first sub-25 swim in the 50 free and a best time by 2 seconds in the 100 free. On the boys’ side, Winter Park’s Ethan Oliva swept the sprints. His winning times of 21.96 in the 50 and 49.57 in the 100 were both lifetime bests.
In her successful double, Lakeland’s Kelly Schmaedeke got the ball rolling with a dominant performance in the 200 IM, putting up a 2:12.82 to win by over 5 seconds. She returned for the 100 breast, using her front half speed to take the edge over Windermere’s Cali Harney and win it 1:07.97 to 1:08.56.
Windermere’s Reef Ide came within a half second of his best to win the 200 free. He came from behind on the back half, chasing down Lake Minneola’s Ben Stark (1:48.91) to win it in 1:47.06. Ide then used his front half speed to win the 100 fly, holding off East River’s Sean Catron (53.62) to win in 53.47.
Region 3 Meet:
Fort Myers freshman Olivia McMurray impressed in region 3, establishing herself as a major title threat in both of her individual races. In the 200 IM, McMurray slashed 3 seconds off her best time, winning in 2:00.81 to meet the Automatic All-American standard. She knocked a couple of seconds off her best time in the 500 free as well, winning that race in 4:46.95 to reel in another AA-A time.
Winning gold in AA-C time were Clearwater’s Helena Heuberger and Naples’ Matthew Limbacher. Heuberger, the defending 100 back state champion, clipped her personal best to win the event in 55.64. Limbacher is the defending 100 breast champion. He won that race handily in 56.31.
Osceola’s Ricardo Martinez, the 2016 runner-up in the 200 IM, collected wins in both of his races. In the 200 IM, he took the lead up front and held off a late charge from Northeast’s Colton Gray to win it, 1:55.15 to 1:55.92. He returned for another gold with a 52.14 in the 100 back.
Sunlake’s Chloe Grimme, the 2016 runner-up in the 50, swept the girls’ sprints. She got things started with a 24.11 to take gold in the 50 free. In the 100 free, she went up against Heuberger in a tight race to the finish. Grimme was slightly through the front half, holding on to the slim lead through the final 50 yards to win 52.73 to 52.99.
Region 4 Meet:
Belen Jesuit’s Aitor Fungairino, a Texas commit, won the 200 free in Automatic All-American time. Fungairino blew away the field, extending his lead throughout the race to win it in 1:38.08. He’s also the defending state champ in the 500 free. In that event, he took 2nd at regionals, as Pines Charter’s Andres Lares ran him down in the final 50 yards to clip Fungairino 4:34.90 to 4:35.04.
Pines Charter’s Kelly Heron collected a pair of golds. She first won the 200 IM, using her backstroke leg to push ahead of the field and hold on in 2:11.71. Heron, the reigning runner-up in the 100 back, continued on to win the 100 back in 58.41, using her front half speed to break away from the field early.
Martin County’s Sloan Sizemore, a transfer from Centennial, swept the sprints to help her team to victory. She came within 2 tenths of her best time to win the 50 free in 24.10. Sizemore, who was a class 4A finalist in the 100 free last season, then picked up the 100 free win in 52.06.
2017 FHSAA 3A STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW:
The state meet for class 3A is set to take place on Saturday, November 11th. Swimmers will compete in both prelims and finals, with the top 8 swimmers out of prelims advancing to the ‘A’/championship final to compete for medals and points, and the 9th through 16th place swimmers out of prelims competing for points in the ‘B’/consolation final.
Below are a few of the big races and swimmers to watch. Stay tuned for these swims and more at the big showdown on Saturday.
Bartram Trail’s Summer Stanfield is set to make a run at state titles in both the 100 back and 200 IM after medaling in both last season. In the 100 back, she’ll rematch with defending state champ Helena Heuberger of Clearwater, who just swam a lifetime best 55.64 at regionals, and 2016 runner-up Kelly Heron of Pines Charter. Her biggest challenger in the 200 IM looks to be Fort Myers freshman Olivia McMurray.
Heading into the state meet, McMurray has the fastest best time with a 2:00.81 from regionals, while Stanfield boasts a 2:01.74 from districts. With McMurray’s lifetime best 4:46.95 in the 500 free from regionals, she’s primed to challenge for the win there as well. Both of her times are significantly faster than what it took to win states last season.
Gainesville’s Alena Kraus seeks back-to-back titles in both of her individual races and heads to states as the top seed in both the 200 free and 100 free. Kraus is the only swimmer with a sub-1:50 going into the 200 free, boasting a 1:47.09 from the 2016 final. In the 100 free, she looks to break 50 seconds for the first time after narrowing in on the barrier with a 50.08 last season.
Texas commit Aitor Fungairino of Belen Jesuit is in position to defend his titles in the 200 free and 500 free. Fungairino is head and shoulders above the 200 free field thus far, with a seed time 4 seconds faster than anyone else. In the 500 free, he’s the only returner who went sub-4:30 last season, but Jack VanDeusen has been making big moves with his 4:29.83 from regionals. VanDeusen is the top seed in both the 500 free and 200 IM.
Chiles’ Ryland Sun is the top returner in both of his individual races. Last season, he was the bronze medalist in the 100 back. Sun will battle with Osceola’s Ricardo Martinez, who took 4th in the 100 back last season. They’re separated by just 6 hundredths heading into states, with Sun leading the way in 52.08. Sun heads into the meet as 2nd seed in the 100 fly, just 14 hundredths behind Doral’s Adrian Aguilar. Last season, Aguilar took bronze in the 500 free, but he won’t be swimming the event this time.
You have Land O Lakes HS as the girls winner for region 3, Sunlake HS won. Land O Lakes is 2A
Anon- Thanks. The results were a bit unclear because it said “Sunlake Land O’Lakes.” In some cases, they include both the name of the school and the location. I was aware that there is a school called Land O’Lakes, so I had accidentally interpreted it as Land O’Lakes being in a town called Sunlake. I have corrected this.