A funny thing happened to Taylor Anderson while training for the 100 freestyle event – it upped her 50 free game.
The Mitchell senior successfully defended her title as the fastest Class 3A girls swimmer with a gold medal in the 50 free with an All-American time of 23.00. Anderson also won the silver in the 100 free.
Lakewood Ranch’s Luke Hanner claimed the gold in the boys 200 free with a winning time of 1:39.03. His teammate Daniel Erlenmeyer won the gold in the 500 free and their efforts helped the Mustangs boys team finish 10th overall.
The Lakewood Ranch girls, aided by a Madison Jean’s silver in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 54.27 and a bronze in the 400 free relay (Jean, Courtney Chapin, Malorie Schuerman, Haille Bogumil), finished fifth overall.
Other area swimmers notable finishes: Osceola girls won silver in the 200 medley relay and Savannah Sawyers won the bronze in the 100 breaststroke. Winter Haven’s Hannah Kendall won bronze in the 50 free. Wiregrass Ranch’s Maddy Conway won silver in the 100 backstroke and in the boys 50 free, Lake Region’s Peyton Lee won silver and Braden River’s Ryan Walker won the bronze.
In the diving competition, Northeast’s Joshua Morehouse won the bronze in the one-meter event. Winter Haven’s boys got a big boost in points with strong diving finishes by Mason Osborn (5th), Colby Summers (6th) and Paul Voisard (7th).
In girls diving, Osceola’s Amber Brickey won the bronze, while Lake Nona’s Jenna Pinherio was fourth and Northeast’s Sarah Boyd was eighth.