The 2015 Alabama State High School\u00a0Swimming & Diving State Championships ran Friday to Saturday this weekend at Auburn University\u2019s James E. Martin Aquatic Center in Auburn, AL and featured more than a few record breaking performances. Auburn High School\u00a0and Bob Jones High School both had strong performances to take the respective girls and boys team titles. Read\u00a0below for full recaps of the girls and boys meets\u00a0along with a link to final meet results at the bottom of the page.<\/p>\n
The Auburn High School girls team captured their third team title in three years this past weekend. While they started off with a tough DQ in the 200 medley relay, the girls were able to rally and capitalize on their strong prelims performances and dominant relays to capture the team title. While Auburn only had one individual winner with\u00a0Hadley Dowdle\u00a0in<\/strong>\u00a0the 100 freestyle (50.77), they took home two relay titles to carry momentum through the meet and score big points. The biggest difference maker for Auburn was their depth: the girls had a swimmer appear in the A and B finals of several events, bringing in consistent points\u00a0throughout the meet.<\/p>\n En route to their win Auburn had two relays claim state titles while breaking state records in the process. The team of\u00a0Maggie Casey, Annie Frances Dallas, Peyton Dowdle, <\/strong>and Anna Kate McGinty\u00a0<\/strong>was the first to break\u00a0the state record in the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.27). The oldest swimmer on that relay was only a sophomore, so expect those ladies to look to take that record lower in the years to come.\u00a0Individual 100 free champion\u00a0Hadley Dowdle<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>then joined\u00a0her sister\u00a0Peyton Dowdle\u00a0<\/strong>along with\u00a0teammates\u00a0McAuley Parker\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Anna Kate\u00a0<\/strong>McGinty\u00a0<\/strong>to post a state record 3:31.39 in the 400 freestyle relay.\u00a0Again, this is a young relay with two sophomores, a junior, and an eighth grader, so expect these four to continue to push this relay record over the next few years.<\/p>\n While Auburn chipped away at the team title several other state records also came down during the meet. Ums Wright junior\u00a0Paige Madden\u00a0<\/strong>crushed\u00a0the state record in the 200 free with a 1:48.39, beating the old record of 1:49.97 by over 1.5 seconds. Altamont’s\u00a0Anna-Julia Kutsch\u00a0<\/strong>also tied\u00a0the state record in the 50 freestyle with her\u00a023.09.\u00a0Madden <\/strong>also\u00a0had a near miss of the state record with a 4:53.77 win in the 500 freestyle, while\u00a0Spain Park junior\u00a0Rachel Cunningham\u00a0<\/strong>came close to state record\u00a0in both the 100 breaststroke (1:02.63) and\u00a0the 200 IM (2:04.44).<\/p>\n Other event winners\u00a0included Grissom’s 200 medley relay (Mary Northcutt, Alison Hu, Jia Jia Hen, <\/strong>and\u00a0Chloe Hui<\/strong>),\u00a0Prattville’s Dalton Chambliss\u00a0<\/b>in the 100 butterfly (55.52), and\u00a0Vestavia Hills’\u00a0Anna Moers\u00a0<\/strong>in the 100 backstroke (55.60).<\/p>\n Girls – Team Scores<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Auburn High School 234<\/p>\n 2. Huntsville High School 180<\/p>\n 3. McGill-Toolen Catholic High 164<\/p>\n 4. Bob Jones High School 142<\/p>\n 5. Grissom High School 133<\/p>\n While the Auburn girls chipped away at the point total\u00a0through relay wins and depth in individual events, Bob Jones High School did it in a bit more dominant fashion, winning seven total events (five individual, two relay) en route to their team title over Auburn High School.<\/p>\nBoys\u00a0Recap<\/h3>\n