SWIMMING: Jones, Pittman each notch another AQ time

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on January 23, 2017 9:57 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Spirited races.

Fist pumps.

Shouts of encouragement.

The atmosphere felt like the opening meet of the season as swimmers churned through the crystal clear blue water inside B.G. Darden Natatorium on Friday evening.

Instead, it's the final countdown.

One week of regular-season action remains and competitors are looking to shave time in the respective events and either match -- or surpass -- those elusive automatic-qualifying times that determine trips to either regional or state competition.

Anna Breck and Zander Pittman each logged an AQ.

Breck, who attends Wayne School of Engineering, emerged as the 200-yard freestyle winner in a regional-qualifying time of 2:15.23. It was Breck's third AQ of the season. She's headed to the eastern 1-A/2-A regionals in the 50 free and 100 back.

Pittman won the 200 individual medley (IM) in 2:07.20 and shattered the AQ time of 2:35.99 set by the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association. The junior has qualified in eight different events for the season-ending NCISAA 1-A/2-A state meet on Feb. 10.

Goldsboro's foursome of Anna Prezbindowski, Megan Huston, Navia Dixit and Breck came within .77 seconds of matching the automatic regional qualifying mark in the 400 free relay.

Eastern Wayne's quartet of Ken Weeks, Michael Guthrie, Yohan Yan and Joshua Gross claimed the 200 free relay with a season-best time of 1:46.12. The group drew a high five and praise from head coach Nate Schuler as they dried off with towels and discussed their split times.

The Warriors edged Goldsboro 261-259 to win the girls' team portion of the meet. On the boys' side, Rosewood cruised past CBA 352-301. Eagles head coach Natalie Ira said before the meet that she had tweaked her lineup to put swimmers in some events they hadn't swam this season.

The teams will gather at the Y for one final meet next Tuesday.

Eastern Wayne, Southern Wayne and Charles B. Aycock conclude regular-season action Jan. 28 in the 2017 Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference championship meet at East Carolina University.