Harpeth Hall Holds Off Baylor School For Tennessee Girls’ State Championship

By Eric Finger

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, February 17.  HARPETH Hall High School won the TISCA Tennessee High School Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday night at Centennial Sportsplex after finishing second to Baylor last year. Harpeth pulled off the win without winning a single event in the meet, scoring 214.5 points to finish ahead of Baylor School (179) and Brentwood High School (175).

The night started off with the 200-yard medley relay, where the top four seeded teams were within seven tenths of each other going into the freestyle leg before Science Hill’s Heather Kudialis threw down a 23.42 anchor leg. That gave Science Hill’s relay of Tessa Wilson, Katie Lance, Jessica Green and Kudialis the first win of the night in an Automatic All-American time of 1:46.14. Baylor School finished in second with a 1:46.56, while Girls Preparatory School took third in a time of 1:47.14.

The 200-yard freestyle turned out to be one of the more memorable races of the night, as sophomore Tatum Wade from Christ Presbyterian Academy broke Anna Miller’s 2004 state record by .41 with a 1:47.52. Erica Laning from Farragut followed in second with a time of 1:49.15, while Elizabeth Stinson from Harpeth Hall went a 1:51.14 for third.

Next up, in the 200 IM, freshman Annie Kyriakidis of Pope John Paul II took six seconds off her prelim time to break Ashley Vance’s 2010 state record by almost a second with a 2:00.08. Second place went to Sophie Pilkinton from Harpeth Hall with a 2:01.42, and third went to Katie Kelsoe from Memphis Home Educators Association in 2:05.38.

As expected, the 50 free turned out to be the closest race of the night. Senior Bree Roman of Baylor School won by the slimmest of margins, out-touching Maryville’s Logan Graumann, 23.45-23.46. Bailey Page from Ravenwood High went a 23.95 to finish third, the only other swimmer to break the 24-second barrier.

In the diving well, Signal Mountain senior Marissa Roth won, scoring 429.35 points to finish slightly ahead of Emily Bretscher from L&N Stem Academy, who scored 413.90. Meg Tomayko from Siegel High School finished in third, diving her way to 356.00 points.

In the final event of the evening, the 100 fly, junior Carrie Johnson from Mt. Juliet High School swam an Automatic All-American time of 54.78, beating the competition by over a second. Rachel Dover of East Hamilton High School finished second in 55.79, while Anne Dassow from Chattanooga Christian placed third in 57.00. At the end of the first day, Science Hill High sat in first place with 99 points, followed by Harpeth Hall with 94 points and Girls Preparatory School with 83 points.

To start off day two, Maryville’s Logan Grauman from Maryville High School won the 100 yard freestyle in a time of 51.17, followed by Sophie Pilkinton from Harpeth Hall in 51.71 and Meredith Geyer from Germantown High in third (52.06).

Christ Presbyterian Academy’s Tatum Wade got after it again in the 500 free, winning in a time of 4:47.41, just two seconds off the state record. This time, she out-touched Elizabeth Stinson from Harpeth Hall, who went a time of 4:47.92. Erica Laning from Farragut picked up another top three finish in a time of 4:53.63.

In the second relay of the meet, the 200 freestyle relay, Baylor School’s Missy Karman, Maggie Stovall, Leslie Campbell and 50 free champion Bree Roman pulled out the win in an Automatic All-American time of 1:35.98, dominating for majority of the race and finishing more than a second ahead of Harpeth Hall (1:37.16) and Science Hill (1:38.09).

The 100 backstroke had to be one of the closest races of the night with the top three finishers all touching within a second of each other. Katie Kelsoe from Memphis Home Educators Association won in 55.54 for her second top-three finish of the meet. Carrie Johnson from Mt. Juliet (55.85) and Tessa Wilson from Science Hill (56.51) followed her.

In the final individual race of the evening, the 100-yard breaststroke, Pope John Paul II’s Annie Kyriakidis won her second race of the meet, taking off three seconds from prelims and going a 1:02.04, just short of breaking another state record. Baylor School’s Bree Roman, who won the 50 free and 200 free relay earlier, finished second in a time of 1:03.00. Third place went to Elena Escalas from University School of Nashville in 1:04.94.

In the final event, 400 freestyle relay, Girls Preparatory School’s Kristen Myers, Susanna LaRochelle, Anna Ward and April Forsthoffer out-touched Brentwood School by one one-hundredth of a second, 3:31.31 to 3:31.32. Team champion Harpeth Hall took third in an All-American Consideration time of 3:32.37.

Despite not scoring in an individual race after the 500-yard freestyle or winning a single event, Harpeth Hall had enough depth to hold off their opponents and win the state championship title.

Results For: Tennessee Girls High School State Championships

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