From staff reports

From staff reports

Kent Lawrence won his first Georgia Recreation and Park (GRPA) State Championships swimming title when he was 10 years old. Now 18, the Carrollton resident won his second state title in his final year of eligibility Saturday at the state championships in Augusta.

Lawrence, who won the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 24.34 seconds, was one of 19 swimmers from the Carrollton Bluefins swim team to win a medal Saturday, when those ages 11-to-18 competed.

To earn a medal, swimmers need to finish in the top eight during preliminaries and advance to the finals. The Bluefins had several swimmers just miss the cut by finishing in ninth or 10th.

“As far as the team we took, I was happy with them,” Bluefins coach David Weeks said. “I’d have liked to seen a few more in (the top eight), but that’s just the way it falls sometimes.”

Kelly Fazio captured a pair of state titles for the Bluefins in the 11-12 age bracket. She won the 50-yard breaststroke (33.85) and the 100-yard IM (1:40.42). Her twin sister, Kate, won the state title in the 50-yard butterfly (28.96) and finished second in the 50-yard breaststroke.

Weeks said the competition in the 15-18 age bracket was fast, but not as deep as usual. However, he said the 11-12 and 13-14 age brackets were especially tough at the state championships this year.

“It was a tough road to haul to get into finals,” Weeks said.

To go along with his state title in the 50-yard butterfly, Lawrence also won medals with his two team relays and a third-place finish in the 100-yard IM.

In addition to Lawrence, the other two 18-year-olds taking part in their final GRPA meet, April Dickerson of Carrollton, and Jason Weeks of Coweta County, also did well. Dickerson finished second in both individual events she swam in, the 100-yard IM and 50-yard breaststroke, and won medals in each of her team relays.

“Unfortunately, April was up against some really stiff competition, so she had two seconds, but really swam nice,” Weeks said. “That was a great GRPA meet for her.”

Weeks finished eighth in the 100-yard freestyle and also picked up medals in both of his team relays.

Also in the 15-18 boys age bracket, Avery Watson and Jamie Wright each won four medals. Watson came in fourth in the 50-yard backstroke and sixth in the 50-yard breaststroke. Wright finished sixth in the 100-yard IM and seventh in the 50-yard butterfly. Each were on the two medal-winning relay teams along with Lawrence and Weeks.

Richard Russell had a fourth-place finish in the 15-18 boys 100-yard freestyle and a fifth-place finish in the 15-18 boys 50-yard freestyle. Jake O’Brien finished seventh in the 15-18 boys 50-yard breaststroke.

In the 11-12 boys age bracket, Evan Harte swam eighth in the 50-yard breaststroke and Christopher Reese finished sixth in the 50-yard butterfly. Joshua Grover won a medal in each of his individual races in that age bracket, finishing fourth in the 50-yard butterfly and seventh in the 100-yard IM.

Cameron Black and Daniel Fuller were part of the 11-12 boys relay team, along with Grover and Reese, that came in seventh in the 200-freestyle relay.

Myranda Kralman came in sixth in the 100-yard freestyle and Alex Kralman finished eighth in the 100-yard IM. Both swam with the medal-winning relay teams along with Dickerson and Jamie Smith.

Carolyn Ives won a medal with an eighth-place finish in the 11-12 girls 50-yard freestyle.

Katie Harte came in seventh in the 15-18 girls 50-yard backstroke.

“These kids go out, they have a good time and get to spend a lot of time with their friends at this big rec meet,” Weeks said. “That’s what grows into me.”