Intense Battles to Come at the FHSAA 4A State Championships

2018 FHSAA 4A State Championships

The final meet of the FHSAA 4A state series begins on Saturday, November 10 with the state championships.

This year, the state meet presents many exciting battles amongst teams and individuals. Here’s what this 2018 edition of the Florida 4A state championships looks like:

Girls

2017 Finish Rank School Total 200 Medley 200 FR-R 400 FR-R Individuals
1 1 Buchholz 260 40 40 180
3 2 Riverview 220 28 28 32 132
2 3 Plant 181 40 30 34 77
4 4 Oviedo 163 34 22 22 85
13 5 Winter Park 130 14 32 30 54
10 6 Sarasota 120 18 24 78
7 7 Seminole 97 30 34 8 25
17 8 West Orange 96 32 4 60
6 9 Boca Raton 89 22 8 6 53
5 10 Palm Harbor 87 26 26 12 23

When scoring the meet, Buchholz takes the top spot by a comfortable margin in front of Riverview and Plant, who are also in the top three. What makes Buchholz a very dominant force in this meet is that they could win the meet without a 200 medley relay. Taking the top spot by 2 seconds is the Plant relay team with a seed time of 1:44.60.

In the free relays, the top three have a more intense battle to face.

200 FR-R 400 FR-R
Buchholz 1:34.05 3:27.78
Plant 1:38.37 3:27.95
Riverview 1:38.49 3:30.84

In the 200 free, Plant’s Ella Bathurst also takes the top seed with a 1:48.58. Bathurst is also top of the psych sheet in the 100 breast, with a blistering 1:01.75. The state record in the event is a 1:00.99, set last year by junior national team member Isabel Ivey.

Riverview’s Emma Weyant takes the top seed in the 200 IM with a 2:02.67. However, right behind her is Cooper City’s Kathleen Golding with a 2:02.97. On the opposing side, Weyant and teammate Christina Cianciolo look to secure their potential dominance in the 500 free, as they take the top two seeds with 4:49.84 and 4:52.84, respectively.

Despite missing a relay, Buchholz’s Talia Bates serves as a deadly weapon for her team. She takes the top seed in the 50 free (22.85) and the 100 fly (54.08), both are automatic All-American times. Bates is the current state record holder in the 100 fly (53.28), and just 0.55 off the 50 free state record of 22.30.

Behind Bates in the 100 fly is a very talented field. The top five behind Bates are all within less than a second of each and have achieved All-American consideration times.

100 Fly
Talia Bates (Buchholz) 54.08
Caitlin Brooks (Buchholz) 54.78
Madison Cummings (Atlantic) 54.78
Abigail Gibbons (Oviedo) 55.25
Julia Rodriguez (Buchholz) 55.27

Another Buchholz powerhouse, Brooks is also on the run for a state record. While second in the 100 fly behind Bates, Brooks takes the top seed in the 100 back with a 52.68. The state record could be in danger this year, as is currently stands at 52.46.

Could state records be broken and competition be fierce in tomorrow’s meet?

Boys

2017 Finish Rank School Total 200 Medley 200 FR-R 400 FR-R Individuals
2 1 Lake Brantley 240 40 40 40 120
7 2 Oviedo 155 34 28 18 75
5 3 Seminole 152 32 30 4 86
4 4 Buchholz 142 28 32 82
1 5 Riverview 141 10 14 26 91
15 6 Palm Harbor 128 26 22 34 46
41 7 Fletcher Neptune 96 22 32 42
6 8 Olympia Orlando 90 34 22 34
8 9 Countryside 87 30 24 33
22 10 George Steinbrenner 85 24 12 10 39

Topping the psych sheet after taking second last year is Lake Brantley Altamonte Spring, by nearly 100 points. Only 14 points separates the rest of the top five: Oviedo, Seminole, Buchholz, and Riverview. The competitiveness of this year’s meet also reflects in the top five relays’ seed times.

Rank 200 Medley 200 FR-R 400 FR-R
1 Lake Brantley (1:35.08) Lake Brantley (1:26.81) Lake Brantley (3:09.94)
2 Oviedo (1:35.21) Olympia Orlando (1:26.88) Palm Harbor (3:11.52)
3 Seminole (1:36.99) Fletcher Neptune (1:27.06) Buchholz (3:12.13)
4 Countryside (1:37.19) Seminole (1:27.54) Miami Palmetto (3:12.31)
5 Buchholz (1:37.23) Oviedo (1:27.57) Newsome (3:13.12)

Looking at the predicted scores and relay seeds, Lake Brantley presents a great depth with being the only school having all three relays in a strong scoring position in comparison to the other top five scoring schools.

Many of the individual events also present such a competitive nature with how close each seeded time is. With scoring points, hundredths of a second could mean a lot to those who are ready to fight for in.

In other micro-example of how close this meet could be is in the 200 IM. Only 0.78 seconds separates the second through fifth seeds. Crashing the party is top seed Garrett McGovern, from Newsome.

Rank School 200 IM Seed
1 Garrett McGovern Newsome 1:53.36
2 Jason Brzozowski Riverview 1:54.39
3 Alexander Gusev Riverview 1:54.44
4 Ryan Gibbons Oviedo 1:54.62
5 Nathaniel Boccuzzo Lake Brantley 1:55.17

The top five places are not the only valuable spots when scoring. There is an immense difference between making the championship final or the consolation final scoring-wise.  In the 200 free, fourth through 12th place range from a 1:42.8 to a 1:43.9, just over a second. On the other hand, top seed is held by Buchholz’s Julian Hill, who is the only swimmer under 1:40 with a 1:39.73.

In the 100 back, St. Petersburg’s Lukas Cote takes top seed at 52.47. The top 10 behind Cote are all within 0.90 seconds of each other. In the same way, fourth through 16th place in the 100 breast ranges from a 59.1 to a 1:00.1, within a second at the 1:00 mark. Taking top seed in that event is Winter Park’s Hector Rodriguez with a 58.00.

Will Lake Brantley be able to maintain their impressive pre-meet lead in a very competitive state meet?

Tune in the action as the state meet begins Saturday, November 10. Prelims begin at 9:00 am EST, finals begin at 5:30 am EST.

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Believe it
5 years ago

Buchholz will go one two in the 200 and 500 free.

About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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