OCALA — Seminole High School senior Will McWard capped his high school swimming career with a state runner-up finish, a third-place individual performance and two relay podium finishes Saturday at the FHSAA Class 4A Swimming and Diving State Championships at Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training (FAST).
McWard led the Seminole boys to an eighth-place team finish with 115 points, highlighting a championship meet that saw the Seminoles earn four podium finishes.
McWard finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in 20.13 seconds, narrowly missing the state championship after posting a 20.11 in preliminaries. Jupiter’s Julian Granison won the event in 19.50 seconds.
McWard added a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle in 45.07 seconds after qualifying third in 44.63.
Junior John Slater joined McWard in the championship final of the 50 freestyle, finishing sixth in 20.76 seconds. Slater also placed 14th in the 100 freestyle in 47.37.
The Seminoles added two podium performances in relay competition.
McWard, Slater, sophomore Alexander Quach and sophomore Caiden Thompson finished second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1 minute, 23.67 seconds, improving on their preliminary time of 1:24.56.
In the 200 medley relay, McWard, senior Brayden Tarkowski, Slater and Quach placed third in 1:34.04 after qualifying in 1:35.37.
The boys 400 freestyle relay team of Quach, senior Chase Lampe, Thompson and Tarkowski finished 19th in 3:18.68.
On the girls side, senior Abigail Coleman advanced to the consolation final of the 50 freestyle, finishing 16th in 25.07 seconds after qualifying in 24.69.
The girls 200 freestyle relay team of Coleman, senior Gabrielle Gogolinski, sophomore Leila Nabi and freshman Peyton Tarkowski advanced to the consolation final after posting a preliminary time of 1:41.56.
The 200 medley relay team of senior Gabriella Pierson, Nabi, Tarkowski and Coleman finished 19th in 1:54.06, while Coleman, Gogolinski, Tarkowski and Pierson placed 20th in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:43.15.
The state championship performances capped another successful season for Seminole swimming, with both the boys and girls capturing their third consecutive district championships earlier in the postseason.
Cross Country: Clarke-Lowery leads Seminole boys
Senior Tyler Clarke-Lowery finished sixth in 17 minutes, 23.60 seconds to lead Seminole’s boys cross country team to a third-place finish among 18 teams with 115 points.
Sophomore Jadan Prudot placed 15th in 17:58.40, followed by sophomore Joseph Fisher in 27th (18:35.00), sophomore Akshay Bangalore in 34th (18:54.20) and junior Giovany Rodriguez in 35th (18:56.70). Seminole’s five scoring runners averaged 18:21 over the 5,000-meter course.
Senior Brady Clark finished 45th in 19:25.40, while senior Oscar Loredo placed 61st in 19:56.30.
On the girls side, sophomore Vyshnavi Behara led Seminole in 64th (27:08.50), followed by sophomore Estelle Coffee in 67th (27:50.10), senior Ellie Pereira in 72nd (28:31.50) and sophomore Nina Sucre in 76th (29:00.30).
