While the season schedule for the Lawton District Swim Team is cooling down, the times of the swimmers are heating up as they just put together a strong effort with multiple top-5 finishes at the Southwest Area Championship in Altus, Okla. on Jan. 20.
The highlights of the meet came when the MacArthur boys team ended the meet the runners-up at the Southwest Area Championship and when Eisenhower’s Dalton Sawyer broke an eight-year-old championship meet record in the 100 backstroke.
Sawyer was not the only top finisher for the Eisenhower Eagles group. The girls 200 medley relay team of Claire Kirby, Addison Sawyer, Makayla Flenoury, and Grace Cho placed second and the boys’ team of D. Sawyer, Brayden Ratliff, Liam Wallace-Jones, and Charles Hinton finished in third with a school record time. Additionally, both the girls and boys 400 freestyle relay teams placed second with the boys’ team setting another new school record.
Individually, D. Sawyer also placed first in the 200 individual medley along with the 100 backstroke while sister A. Sawyer was first in the 400 freestyle and 100 backstroke for the girls. Flenoury had a win in the 100 butterfly and was fourth in the backstroke, and Wallace-Jones had a second-place finish in the 100 freestyle and backstroke, followed closely by his teammate Ratliff who placed fourth in the latter.
For the MacArthur Highlanders, the boys second place meet score was fueled by their relay team of Luke Blackmon, Rohan Mariano, Michael Gonzalez, and Daniel Saliba earning a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley and a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle. MHS also got a fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle by the team of Ian Leroux, Alex Weaver, Travis Murphy, and Toren Murine. The girls 200 freestyle relay team of Alyssa Raunchier, Emily Morales, Kristiona Thornton, and Harleigh Strickland finished in fourth while the 400 freestyle quartet of Morales, Rauscher, H. Strickland, and Maddy Strickland placed fifth.
Additionally, Mariano had a great meet, placing first in both the 200 and 400 freestyle, and teammate Gonzalez won the 50 freestyle and was second in the 100 butterfly. Rauscher earned a first-place finish in the 100 breastroke and third in the 200 freestyle while H. Strickland finished third in the 400 freestyle for the MHS girls.
Braedon Jackson was the lone Lawton High Wolverine to finish the meet with a top-5 finish, placing fifth in the 200 individual medley.
Congratulations to all of our Lawton swimmers and good luck at regionals, which will take place on Feb. 4 at Mitch Park YMCA in Edmond, Okla.