For the first time in school history, both the boys and girls teams won district championships.
A year after the girls team won the school’s first district championship in swimming, Strawberry Crest took home both the boys and girls district titles this year.
For the boys, they were able to come away on top of the eight-team district on the heels of three bronze medals, six silver medals and two gold medals. For the girls, it was an even more dominant performance with four bronze medals, five silver medals and seven gold medals.
On the boys’ side, Josiah Tan earned bronze in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley, Kristian Walker earned silver in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle, Noah Jones earned gold in the 200-yard individual medley and silver in the 100-yard backstroke and Hubert Pilichowski earned silver in the 200-yard individual medley and gold in the 100-yard breaststroke. And on the girls’ side, Emmy Hamilton earned gold in both the 50-yard and the 100-yard freestyle, Saige Starford earned gold in the 200-yard freestyle and silver in the 100-yard freestyle, Bailey Scott earned gold in both the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley, Mimi Bitting earned silver in both the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly, Michaela Walker earned silver in the 100-yard breaststroke and bronze in the 100-yard butterfly, Alex Ball earned silver in the 200-yard individual medley, Jillian Starford earned bronze in the 200-yard freestyle and Chin Hargewar earned bronze in the 200-yard individual medley. In addition to their individual medals, the boys took silver in the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay and bronze in the 200-yard freestyle relay while the girls took gold in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay and bronze in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Advancing to the 25-team regional meet last week, Strawberry Crest didn’t medal in either the boys or girls competition as both teams finished 12th in the region, however top-10 finishes from both Pilichowski and Saige Starford clinched their spot in the state meet as Pilichowski finished ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke and Starford finished eighth in the 100-yard freestyle.
The FHSAA Florida 4A State Championship will take place on Nov. 11 and 12 at the Sailfish Splashpark and Acquatics Center in Stuart, Fla., just south of Port St. Lucie.
