SWIMMING: Several Wayne County athletes headed to state meets

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 8, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Two Charles B. Aycock athletes swam their way into the season-ending N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A championship meet on Saturday.

Sophomore Abby Sauls qualified in two events -- the 200 free (2 minutes, 6.83 seconds) and 500 free (5:38.48). Sauls shaved 4 1/2 seconds off her seed time in the 500 free.

"She did really well, swam her best time in both of them," CBA head coach Linda Chastain said. "Those were two grueling events where Abby excels. She swam out of her mind."

Aycock had three relays battle for state berths during eastern regional competition. The 200 medley of Ariel Smith, Laura Wessell, Samantha Castorena and Sarah Aycock finished 18th in 2:37.03. The 200 free quartet of Brenna Flanagan, Sarah Aycock, Anna Williams and Leah Campbell wound up 20th in 2:18.67.

The foursome of Campbell, Williams, Smith and Castorena also took 20th with a mark of 5:14.21 in the 400 free relay.

Fellow Golden Falcon Zech Chastain recorded a pair of top-four performances. Chastain just missed the bronze medal by three one-hundredths of a second with a fourth-place time of 50.37 seconds. He earned third place in the 100 backstroke in 54.11 seconds.

Chastain also swam legs on the Golden Falcons' 200 medley and 200 free relay squads. The 200 medley -- which included Colton Marley, Ellis Smith and Zack Broome -- touched the wall 14th overall in 2:00.65. The 200 free of Broome, Chastain, Trey Jordan and Mitchell Castorena placed 22nd in 1:55.12.

"I'm very happy with it ... excited about states," Chastain said. "My mom (Linda) and coaches have been helping us, and we all felt we could do very well. We kept practice (for the regionals) the same as it usually is, maybe cut back on some yardage and that was about it.

"I felt confident having my team support me (and) it's always fun to compete with your teammates."

Eastern Wayne freshmen Kenny Weeks and Yinhao Chen posted personal bests in their respective events. Weeks shaved almost seven seconds off his time in the 200 individual medley (IM) with a 19th-place effort of 2:45.72. Chao was 22nd overall in the 50 free (25.26) and 13th in the 100 fly (1:01.5).

"Kenneth has worked exceptionally hard this year and has improved exponentially since the first day of practice," first-year EW head coach Nate Schuler said. "He decided in December that he wanted to swim in the 200 IM and over the course of three competitions, he qualified for regionals. Yinhao has worked very hard and continued to better his times throughout the season."

In the Classes 1-A/2-A east regional, Goldsboro freshman Anna Breck is headed to the state meet after a fourth-place performance in the 100 backstroke. She touched the wall in 1:05.67 -- nearly three seconds faster than her seed time. Breck participated on the Cougars' 200 medley relay that claimed 17th place in 2:21.22. She was joined by Anna Prezbindowski, Kaylee Lyon and Matti Rose Lyon.

The same foursome ended up 19th in the 200 free relay in 2:05.8.

Prezbindowski was 19th in the 100 fly (1:20.79).

Rosewood's quartet of Riley Barber, Elaina Amy, Rebecca Fitzmaurice and Kaitlyn Kincaid grabbed the 20th spot in the 200 medley relay (2:26.02). Fitzmaurice placed 15th in the 100 breaststroke (1:20.0).

The Eagles' Kodey Silknitter earned state berths in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.49) and 100 free (54.5). Teammate Dalton Ira qualified in the 500 free with a time of 5:36.73 -- a whopping 16 seconds faster than his seed time.

"It was a really great opportunity to be able to swim with those kind of swimmers from elite teams," Ira said. "I'm really glad I did well and glad our team did well. I feel great that me and Kodey, and our relay teams are going to states."

Rosewood's foursome of Ira, Owen Blevins, Wes Chandler and Silknitter logged a state-qualifying time of 4:00.8 seconds -- 8.36 seconds better than their best regular-season time. The same group was 16th in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:49.08.

Chandler posted top-20 times in the 200 IM (2:35.3) and 100 fly (1:08.8).