MHSAA Swimming and Diving Class II State Championships
- October 24th, 2020
- Tupelo Aquatic Center
- Class II (Large schools)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “MHSAA Swimming Championships Class II 2020”
- Full Meet info
Top 5 Girls Teams
- Madison Central – 131
- Oxford – 98
- Tupelo – 88
- Ocean Springs – 61
- Germantown – 44
Madison Central’s girls extended their winning streak at the State Championship, winning for the 7th straight year.
Madison Central got out to a quick start at the meet, winning the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:50.28. The school holds the Class II state record in the event from two years ago, when they finished in 1:45.56.
In the 200 free, Ocean Springs senior and Marshall commit Gabrielle Ivey posted the top time and new state record. Ivey held the previous state record, set in 2017, of 1:52.62. She smashed that time this year, finishing in 1:51.02. The 200 free marked Ivey’s 6th state title during her four years. Her two losses came in the 100 free in 2018 and 2020.
Taking first in the 200 IM was Madison Central junior Kimberly McCaffrey. McCaffrey led the race from start to finish, easily leading the field in 2:08.03. This marks her second straight year winning the event after finishing third as a freshman. Later in the meet, McCaffrey added a second victory, beating out teammate Sarah Covington to win the 100 fly in 57.06.
The 50 free was won by another repeat champion, Oxford’s Julia Dennis. After narrowly missing the state record in prelims, Dennis blew the old record, set by herself last year, away, touching in 23.00. After winning the shortest event of the meet, she also added a victory in the longest, the 500 free. Dennis battled back and forth with Madison Central’s Ella Thomas the entire race, ultimately taking the victory in 5:05.24. Thomas finished in 5:05.43.
Beating out Ivey in the 100 free was Madison Central’s Cassie Anne Howell, who also added a second victory in the 100 back. This marks Howell’s third straight year of winning both of her events, having been the state champion in the 100 free and 100 back during her freshman and sophomore years. In addition to winning the 100 free, Howell also reset the state record, set by herself last year. She took first in 50.86, becoming the first girl in state history to swim faster than 51.0. In the 100 back she was just .4 off of her state record from last year, finishing in 55.28.
Continuing their relay dominance in the 200 free relay was Madison Central, who beat out Oxford by four seconds win in 1:40.86.
The final individual event of the meet, the 100 breast, was won by Germantown’s Megan Stempkovski. In a tight race between Stempkovski and teammate Natalie Cox, Stempkovski pulled out the win, beating Cox by less than a tenth of a second with a time of 1:08.38.
Madison Central finished off the meet with their third relay victory, winning in 3:33.61. In doing so the relay broke the state record that they set last year at 3:36.82.
Top 5 Boy’s Teams
- Madison Central – 109
- Tupelo – 90
- Oxford – 66
- Lewisburg – 50
- Ocean Springs – 38
In winning the boy’s side of the meet, Madison Central broke Tupelo’s winning streak that dated all the way back to 2007.
Just like on the women’s side, Madison Central had a strong showing in the relay events, taking 1st in the 200 medley (1:39.76) and 400 free (3:21.54), as well as 2nd in the 200 free (1:32.05). The top spot in the 200 free relay went to Oxford, which finished in 1:31.29 with the help of Charles Byar‘s 21.80 split.
In the 2oo free Tupelo’s Christian Simpon finished with the top time of 1:41.81. Simpson was the runner up in the event last year, finishing almost three seconds slower than he did this year.
The 200 IM was won by another athlete who finished as the runner-up a season ago, Tucker Potts. Swimming for Lewisburg, Potts finished almost two seconds ahead of his time from a year ago, touching in 1:55.52 to beat out Madison Central’s Carter Dickey.
The 50 free was led by teammates from Pearl High School, Michael and Matthew Robinson. The pair were the only boys to finish under 23.0, with Michael taking the top spot in 21.14 and Matthew finishing in 22.37. This is the second straight season in which Matthew has finished as the runner-up in the 50 free.
The 100 fly featured an upset of the defending state champion, as Madison Central’s Ryan Garrett beat out Michael Robinson to claim the title. The senior finished in 50.56.
After taking third in the 200 free earlier in the meet, junior Charles Byars came back to take the state title in the 100 free. Byars swam to a lifetime best of 48.12 to beat out Matthew Brian of Madison Central. Brian also finished right behind Byars in the 200 free, taking fourth.
The 500 free went to Carter Dickey, a junior at Madison Central. After finishing as the runner-up to state record holder Blake Peeples last season, Dickey came back ten seconds faster than he was last year to finish with the top time of 4:40.52.
Jeremy Koch raced to the fastest time in the 100 back, touching the wall first in 51.51. He was last year’s runner up in the event.
Narrowly missing the state record set by Taylor Williams in the 100 breast was Connor Diamond. A junior, Diamond finished just .03 off of the state record in the event. He finished the race in 56.87.
