Paul Dunbar sweeps 8th Region swimming finals
There were no surprises in store at the Stivers Aquatic and Wellness Center Saturday. Heading into the newly realigned 8th Region swim meet Paul Dunbar was expected to dominate just as it had in the 5th Region for the last several years, and when it was all said and done the Bulldogs headed back to Lexington with championship trophies in the boys’, girls’ and combined team competitions.
The combined-team championship is Dunbar’s ninth straight, while this marks seven consecutive for the girls and five for the boys. Bulldog swimmers took the first two events of the day: the girl’s and boys’ 200-yard medley relays. The girls bested Scott County by five seconds with a time of 1:47.66, while the boys edged Lexington Catholic by just over half a second, coming in at 1:38.13.
As usual, the Bulldogs’ Madison Winstead was in top form. The senior, who is committed to swim at the University of Kentucky next year, was named the meet’s “Outstanding Competitor” for the girls after nabbing a first-place trophy in both of her individual events to go along with top honors on both of the relay squads she swam with. Winstead scorched the field in the 100-yard breaststroke, turning in a time of 1:01.99 that topped second place by more than five seconds and earned an automatic spot on the All-Region team. In the 100-yard butterfly, she clipped teammate Lauren Denham by two seconds with a time of 55.09. Denham also earned All-Region honors, with a pair of second-place individual finishes and two relay championships.
“I was really pleased with today’s results,” said Dunbar head coach Sydney Witzky. “It seems like we always have some drama with someone missing an event or somebody getting disqualified on a relay, and we had none of that this year. Everything went as planned. They passed my expectations even, so I’m really impressed.”
Witzky wasn’t surprised by Winstead’s dominant performance in the pool Saturday.
“Before her races she pretty much tells me how she thinks its gonna go and she was completely accurate and right on it every time today,” Witzky said.
Winstead said the Dunbar girls’ team expected to be in top form Saturday.
“We’ve always been really deep and always had a great group of girls, but today we had a feeling we were gonna come out and do better than ever,” she said. “I’m really glad it was my senior year when we came out and did that well.”
While the Dunbar girls lapped the field en route to a 423-282 margin over second-place Tates Creek, the boys had a tougher time securing their title. After 18 events, they trailed an ascending Lexington Catholic 277-244. But they pulled away in the afternoon’s last three events to secure a 364-343 win.
Lexington Catholic rocketed up from 16th in last year’s combined team meet to second this year, largely thanks to freshman phenom Zach Hils, who was named boys’ “Outstanding Competitor” after winning the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley going away, and anchoring the team’s second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Lexington Catholic first-year coach Dave Little is excited to have Hils for the next four years.
“I’ve been lucky enough to coach him since he was seven years old,” said Little. “Getting him as a freshman now and being able to coach him in high school, I joked with his parents that having Zach on the team is gonna make me look really good my first year. … Everybody just kind of stops what they’re doing to watch him in the water.”
Next up is the KHSAA state meet at the University of Louisville beginning Saturday, Feb. 27. The top two finishers in each individual 8th Region event automatically qualify for the state tournament.
RESULTS
Combined team scores: 1. Paul Dunbar 787; 2. Lexington Catholic 612; 3. Scott County 480; 4. Tates Creek 443; 5. Madison Central 423; 6. Lafayette 412.5; 7. Henry Clay 366; 8. Sayre 256; 9. Model 175; 10. Montgomery County 173.
Boys’ team scores: 1. Paul Dunbar 364; 2. Lexington Catholic 343; 3. Scott County 262; 4. Henry Clay 217; 5. Lafayette 195.5; 6. Madison Central 179; 7. Tates Creek 161; 8. Montgomery County 117; 9. Model 107; 10. Sayre 96.
Girls’ team scores: 1. Paul Dunbar 423; 2. Tates Creek 282; 3. Lexington Catholic 269; 4. Madison Central 244; 5. Scott County 218; 6. Lafayette 217; 7. Sayre 160; 8. Henry Clay 149; 9. Lexington Christian 85; 10. Model 68.
BOYS’ EVENTS
200 medley relay—1. Paul Dunbar (Hayden Janes, Chase Mattingtly, Andrew Sutphin, Brooks Marquette) 1:38.13; 2. Lexington Catholic (Scott Scanlon, Thomas Strother, Zach Hils, Noah Hall ) 1:38.91
200 freestyle—1. Trent Lakes, Madison Central, 1:42.66; 2. Scotty Street, Henry Clay, 1:43.90
200 individual medley—1. Zach Hils, Lexington Catholic, 1:50.52; 2. Chase Mattingly, Paul Dunbar, 1:55.24
50 freestyle—1. Sam Ubellacker, Scott County, 21.49; 2. Andrew Freibert, Henry Clay, 21.81
100 butterfly—1. Landon Clark, Tates Creek, 50.24; 2. Sam Ubellacker, Scott Co., 50.92
100 freestyle—1. Zach Hils, Lexington Catholic, 45.90; 2. Brooks Marquette, Paul Dunbar, 48.04
500 freestyle—1. Chase Mattingly, Paul Dunbar, 4:38.54; 2. Scotty Street, Henry Clay, 4:43. 78
200 freestyle relay—1. Paul Dunbar (Hayden Janes, Chase Mattingly, Andrew Sutphin, Brooks Marquette) 1:28.71; 2. Lexington Catholic (Noah Hall, Tristan Barnes, Scott Scanlon, Jeffrey Schriefer-Flores) 1:28.82
100 backstroke—1. Trent Lakes, Madison Central, 51.71; 2. Landon Clark, Tates Creek, 51.89
100 breaststroke—1. John Babuka, Madison Central, 1:00.60; 2. Benjamin McKeown, Paul Dunbar, 1:01.01
400 freestyle relay—1. Henry Clay (Matthew Street, Stone Poole, Scotty Street, Andrew Freibert) 3:15.42; 2. Lexington Catholic (Tristan Barnes, Thomas Strother, Jeffrey Schriefer-Flores, Zach Hils) 3:16.22
GIRLS’ EVENTS
200 medley relay—1: Paul Dunbar (Lanier Whitton, Madison Winstead, Lauren Denham, Taylor Conley) 1:47.66; 2. Scott County (Harna Minezawa, Shelby Montgomery, Izzy Jackson, Riette Bloomfield) 1:52.39
200 freestyle—1. Rachel Klinker, Tates Creek, 1:51.87; 2. Lauren Denham, Paul Dunbar, 1:52.93
200 individual medley—1. Morgan Lakes, Madison Central, 2:08.39; 2. Hannah Freibert, Henry Clay, 2:12.03
50 freestyle—1. Mallory Shake, Tates Creek, 24.07; 2. Lauren Shepherd, Sayre, 24.58
100 butterfly—1. Madison Winstead, Paul Dunbar, 55.09; 2. Lauren Denham, Paul Dunbar, 57.10
100 freestyle—1. Mallory Shake, Tates Creek, 52.48; 2. Madi Brester, Lafayette, 54.04
500 freestyle—1. Rachel Klinker, Tates Creek, 4:56.08; 2. Megan Goldthorpe, Lexington Catholic, 5:09.73
200 freestyle relay—1. Tates Creek (Kailey Lewis, Whitney Powell, Rachel Klinker, Mallory Shake) 1:38.40; 2. Paul Dunbar (Sarah Phillips, Taylor Colony, Cora Harter, Sahar Mohammadzadeh) 1:41.50
100 backstroke—1. Lanier Whitton, Paul Dunbar, 59.16; 2. Abby Thompson, Madison Central, 59.30
100 breaststroke—1. Madison Winstead, Paul Dunbar, 1:01.99; 2. Hannah Freibert, Henry Clay, 1:07.71
400 freestyle relay—1. Paul Dunbar (Lauren Denham, Lanier Whitton, Sarah Phillips, Madison Winstead) 3:30.09; 2. Tates Creek (Kailey Lewis, Rachel Klinker, Whitney Powell, Mallory Shake) 3:33.22
This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Paul Dunbar sweeps 8th Region swimming finals."