Oceanside Collegiate Academy Wins 2nd-Straight SCHSL 3A Championship

2020 SCHSL Girl’s 3A State Swimming Championships

• October 10, 2020
• North Charleston Aquatic Center, North Charleston, SC
• Course: SCY
• Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 SCHSL 3A Girls Championships” 

The South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) is holding its State Championship meets this weekend, marking the first high school state championship meet since the coronavirus pandemic. The 3 girls’ state championship meets are to be held on Saturday, with the boys racing on Monday.

The meet was held at the North Charleston Aquatic Center, which has the capacity to hold over 1,000 swimmers. Due to COVID restrictions, there were no spectators allowed at the meet, and the number of swimmers participating had to also be limited. 

The 3A Division includes the smallest schools by enrollment of the SCHSL’s three swimming divisions. Schools competing in this division are the smallest in the league, under its recent reclassification that was based on enrollment numbers as of mid-2019. 

In a tight battle for the State Championship Oceanside Collegiate Academy prevailed. With their victory, Oceanside managed to defend its title from last year. 

Oceanside opened up the meet by taking first place in the 200 yard medley relay. The team of Kendal Chunn, Nell Cagle, Grace Isaacs, and Caroline Hill swam to a final time of 1:48.26 to beat the remainder of the field by over 4 seconds. 

Two events later, Chunn took first in the 200 IM, touching in 2:04.12. This marked Chunn’s second-straight 200 IM title; at last year’s championships, she went a 2:04.83 en route to her victory. 

Towards the end of the meet, Chunn saw her second individual victory, winning the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.17. 

Oceanside also saw a victory from Isaacs, who out-touched Christ Church Episcopal School’s defending champion Claire DePiero 24.26 to 24.37 in the 50 freestyle for the win. 

DePiero also managed to win several races. In her first event, the 100 freestyle, she hit the wall in a time of 52.71 to claim the victory by almost .5. Later, she teamed up with Christ Church teammates Mollie Folk, Karinne Everly, and Kylie Larkin to defeat Oceanside in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome managed to swim a time of 1:39.24, beating Oceanside by over 3 seconds. 

In the final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, Oceanside solidified its team victory, coming in first overall. The team of Hill, Isaacs, Chunn, and Claire Natale touched in a final time of 3:34.29. With her contributions to the relay, Chunn became the only swimmer at the meet to win all 4 of their events, scoring a perfect 48 points. 

Other Highlights:

• St. Joseph’s junior Mary Kate Farrell won both of her individual events. Farrell began her day by winning the 200 freestyle (1:52.54) by almost 6 seconds. Later, she won the 500 freestyle (5:05.14) by over 9 seconds. 
• Bishop England’s Jill Smiley won the 100 butterfly, crushing a time of 55.90. With her swim, Smiley cut over 4 seconds off of get seed time.
• Smiley’s teammate Lindsay Burbage emerged victorious over a tight 100 breaststroke field, hitting the wall in a time of 1:06.88.

Top 20 Teams

1. Oceanside (470)
2. St. Joseph’s Catholic School (373)
3. Christ Church Episcopal (365)
4. Bishop England (276)
5. Academic Magnet (270)
6. Brashier Middle College (218)
7. Waccamaw (181)
8. Brookland Cavce (140)
9. Newberry (136)
10. DW Daniel (136)
11. Greer Middle College (130)
12. Seneca (111)
13. Greenville Tech Charter (99)
14. Strom Thurmond (54)
15. Southside Christian School (44)
16. Wren (40)
17. Fox Creek (29)
18. Emerald (14)
19. Hanahan (11)
20. Mid-Carolina (4)