Records Fall at 2014 DeKalb Swim Championships

By Mark Brock

The Chamblee Bulldogs and Lakeside Lady Vikings defended their DeKalb County Swim and Dive Championships over the weekend at Dynamo Swim Club as five new records were set at the meet.

The Bulldogs won eight of the 12 events to pull away from Lakeside to a 274-220 win for their second consecutive county championship. Chamblee had not won the county title before last year’s triumph.

Noah Oh won two individual gold medals and swam legs on two gold medal winning relay teams to lead the Bulldog charge. Oh won the 200 yard freestyle (1:47.79) and 500 yard freestyle (4:52.60). He teamed with brother Nick Oh, Jacob Jordan and John Mitchell to kick off the swimming events with a victory in the 200 yard medley relay (1:41.59), just .19 off the meet record.

The Oh’s also teamed with Mitchell and Matthew Williams to just miss out on another meet record with a time of 3:20.47 in the 400 yard freestyle relay which was just 1.02 seconds under the record time of 3:19.45. It marked the third consecutive year for Chamblee to win the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Chamblee’s Caleb Wickle captured the diving gold with a score of 400.65 on his 11 dives as he christened the new home pool at Chamblee in Thursday’s diving competition. It was Wickle’s second consecutive diving title at the meet.

Nick Oh made it two years in a row in the 100 yard freestyle as he swam a time of 48.73 to take the gold medal, his third on the day.

Jacob Jordan aided the Chamblee cause with a gold medal swim in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 22.63 and then teamed up with Wesley Cheung, Patrick Lindstrom and Alex Perry as the Bulldogs won the 200 freestyle relay for the second consecutive year with a time of 1:33.02.

Tucker junior Cash DeLoache broke his own records from 2013 in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. He swam to a record setting 50.35 in the butterfly to break his one-year old record of 50.90 and came back later in the day to swim a time of 51.46 in the backstroke to break his time of 52.52 set last year. DeLoache’s efforts helped Tucker to a fourth place finish behind Dunwoody.

Druid Hills’ Jackson Ford hauled in a pair of gold medals as well in winning the 200 individual medley in 2:00.31 and the 100 yard breaststroke in 1:00.06. Ford pulled Druid Hills into fifth place in the team standings with his victories. The boys’ swam/dove to 45 state qualifying times/point totals in the meet.

Girls’ Championships Lady Vikings held off Dunwoody to win their third consecutive county title and 16th out of the past 17 by a score of 276-250 over the Lady Wildcats.

Lakeside won seven of the 12 events while setting two new meet records and Dunwoody pushed the Lady Vikings with five gold medals and one new record on the day.

Freshman Raleigh Bentz set one individual record and aided her squad in setting a new relay record on the way to four gold medals. Bentz broke a 19-year old record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.81 to eclipse a record set by Dunwoody’s Allison Holland in 1995 of 59.92.

Teaming with Rachel Hu, Lizzy White and Nicole Hollahan, Bentz swam a leg of the 400 freestyle relay to a new county record of 3:46.22 breaking a record that has held for 35 years. Dunwoody set the mark in 1978 with a time of 3:47.71.

Bentz also took the gold in the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.80 and teamed with Julia Shuford, Lizzy White and Linsey Bergstrom to win the 200 medley relay in 1:57.39.

Julianna Cartwright added to the Lakeside gold medal count with wins in the 200 (2:06.90) and 500 (5:37.85) freestyle events while Nicole Hollahan picked up an individual gold in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.38.

Dunwoody was led by a three gold medal performance by freshman Laura Spratling who swept the 50 yard freestyle (25.02) and the 100 yard freestyle (54.87). She teamed with Hannah Robinson, Bekah Passow and Allie Reiter to break the record in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of
1:43.80. The time broke the record of 1:44.09 set by Lakeside in 2006.

Abby Yates won her second consecutive county title in diving with a total 343.65 to aid the Dunwoody cause while Allie Reiter picked up a second gold medal by taking the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:07.56. The girls’ swam/dove to 33 state qualifying times/point totals in the meet.