The Candy Cane swimming meet was expected to be fast over the weekend, and expectations came true as three meet records were set and Cherokee County’s first automatic regionals cut was made.
A total of 118 swimmers competed from Franklin, Gilmer, Highlands, Pickens, Smoky Mountain and Union high schools in Georgia and North Carolina.
Andrews’ Gage Gillespie’s 2018 50 freestyle record was broken by Highlands’ Finneaus Garner with a time of 23.14. Gilmer’s Jacob Kucera set a new record in the 100 butterfly at 1:03.17, while Franklin’s Gavin Rinker lowered his previous 500 free record to 6:12.93.
Tri-County’s Ariana Rivas and Fern Crayton each won two individual events. Fern won both the 200 and 500 free, and her 500 free time of 6:27.89 was Cherokee County’s first automatic regional cut time. Ariana won the 50 free and 100 butterfly events.
Other local swimmers scoring in the top five include Kirra Talent (Murphy), third in 100 breaststroke; Delilah Naylor (Murphy), fifth in 200 individual medley; Tori Jimenez (Tri-County), fifth in 100 fly; Nathan Abajam (Tri-County), fifth in 200 IM.
Tri-County’s girls finished fourth in the 200 medley relay, with MaryLynn Hulsey and Tina Trigueros joining Fern and Ariana Rivas. Tri-County’s girls also finished second in the freestyle relay, with MaryLynn and Tori Jimenez joining Fern and Ariana.
Tri-County’s boys took fourth in the 200 medley relay, with Logan DiCcio, Landon Spies, Nathan Abejam and William Boyd in the water.