Swimmers take conference titles

Published 7:24 am Monday, January 29, 2024

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Senior Earnhardt Harris and freshman Zach Hirata became conference champions and the Davie boys swim team earned all-conference honors in five events in the Central Piedmont Conference championships at the Kernersville YMCA on Jan. 19.

With 14 competitors in the 100 butterfly, Harris won the CPC title with a time of 53.54. Hirata was first out of 17 in the 200 free at 1:49.14.

The top two finishers in each event earned all-conference, and Hirata took runner-up out of 17 swimmers in the 100 backstroke. His time was a school-record 54.07.

The Davie boys were second in two relays. Aiden Davis, Logan Zuleger, Hirata and Harris posted a record-breaking 1:40.83 to take second out of nine in the 200 medley relay. Bryce Harnsberger, Hirata, Davis and Harris teamed up to take second out of 10 in the 200 free relay. Their time was 1:32.17.

Davis was fourth out of 21 in the 100 free at 52.63. The Davie boys were fifth in three events, including Harris in the 50 free at 22.82, Davis in the 100 back at 56.77 and Zuleger, Xaiden Groff, Hayden Key and Harnsberger in the 400 free relay at 3:53.67.

As a team, the Davie boys were fourth out of five teams. The scoring went Reagan 409, Mt. Tabor 225, West Forsyth 214, Davie 184, Reynolds 113.

The top performances for the Davie girls were a pair of fifth-place swims. Brady Sheek, Logan White, Sarah Rajacich and Sophia Brady were fifth of 10 in the medley relay at 2:02, and Rajacich, Brady, Addy Buchanan and White were fifth of 10 in the 400 free relay at 4:09.28.

The Davie girls finished fifth out of six as a team. Reagan had 361, West 266, Tabor 223, Reynolds 206, Davie 100 and East Forsyth 48.

The Davie coaches were thrilled with the showing.

“Congratulations to all of you for a fantastic meet,” coach Lance White said. “Your hard work through the season has really started to come together, and it really showed at this championship meet. We had 39 personal bests, some over 20 seconds, with a cumulative time drop of a whopping 182.75 seconds. We are so proud of everyone for all the work you put in, trusting in the process and grinding when things got hard.  We had a record number of swimmers placing top 12 to score in their individual events.”

Harris has earned all-conference five times in his stellar career. As a sophomore, he finished second in the butterfly. Last year, Harris, Davis and Harnsberger were on the 200 free relay team that placed second in the CPC.