Swim Atlanta Earns Southern Speedo Championship Title

By Erin Greene

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 14. AT the 2007 Southern Speedo Championship Series in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Swim Atlanta took home the team title with 983 points. The Bolles School of Sharks was the runner-up with 829 points, while Pine Crest finished third in a score of 438.5 points.

Several swimmers were double-event winners during the four-day meet. Joey Pedraza opened the first event of the competition with a victory in the 1000-yard freestyle. He swam the distance race in 9:17.22. He continued his dominance in the endurance races, closing the competition with another win in the 1,650-yard freestyle (15:30.13).

Julia Henkel also claimed the first event of the meet, recording the top time of 16:37.25 in the 1,650-yard freestyle. She later won the 400-yard individual medley in 4:25.60 to help Swim Atlanta take the entire meet.

Bolles swimmer Caitlin Geary clocked an impressive 1:46.92 to take the 200-yard freestyle. She was also the first to touch in the 200-yard individual medley, out touching Henkel to win in 2:04.76.

Stroke specialists Julianne Lago and Andrejs Duda each claimed both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly. Lago won the women's events in 55.08 and 2:00.04, respectively. Duda posted two more wins for Swim Atlanta, coming in at 48.95 and 1:48.50, respectively.

Siena DeVenuto of Pine Crest picked up gold in both the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle. At just 14 years of age, DeVenuto shaved eight seconds off her preliminary time in the 500 to finish with the top time of 4:50.93. She closed the meet by swimming a sub-10 minute 1000, winning in 9:56.51.

Diogo Yabe earned first place in both medley events. He swam the 200-yard distance in 1:50.56 and the 400-yard individual medley in 3:56.42.

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