Seahawk Swimmers Soar in Regionals

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity swimming teams enjoyed a highly successful state regional meet last weekend with the girls taking first place in Class 3A-2A-1A South and the boys finishing fifth with several individual championships and dozens of top ten finishes.

The Decatur girls finished first overall as a team with a whopping 352 total points, or well over 100 more than second-place Patuxent, which finished with 232 team points. The Decatur boys finished fifth overall as a team in an impressive field of 12 of the top teams from all over the region.

Taylor Blazer led the girls’ team with two first-place finishes and she was also part of two first-place relay teams. Blazer finished first in the women’s 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke. Decatur’s Catelin Geiser also collected a first-place finish in the women’s 100-meter freestyle. The Decatur girls’ also excelled in the relays, collecting two first-place finishes. In the 200-meter medley relay Blazer, Geiser, Ali McLoota and Brianna Carroll took first, while Blazer, Geiser, Carroll and Katie Hansen took first in the women’s 400-freestyle relay.

All in all, the Decatur swimmers enjoyed a great state regional meet with top 10 finishes in practically every event. In the men’s 200-meter medley relay, the Seahawk team of Cameron Tull, Andrew Murrell, Brandon Flakowitz and Michael Murray took ninth place. In the men’s 200 freestyle, Jake Blazer was second and Zack Keiser was 10th. In the women’s 200 freestyle, Carroll was third and Lindsey Bankert was fourth.

In the men’s 200-meter individual medley, Decatur’s Garrett Neville was seventh. In the women’s 200-meter individual relay, Geiser was second and Hansen was fourth. Taylor Blazer finished first in the women’s 50-meter freestyle, while McLoota was seventh. Christian Yandle finished fourth in the men’s 50-meter freestyle for Decatur.

In the men’s 100-meter butterfly, Flakowitz finished eighth, while Carroll finished second and Julia Wellen finished eighth in the women’s 100-meter butterfly. Catelin Geiser finished first in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, while Cailey O’Brien-Shields finished seventh. Decatur’s Robert Layton finished ninth in the men’s 100-meter freestyle.

In the men’s 500-meter freestyle, Jake Blazer finished second and Christian Yandle finished fifth. Katie Hansen finished second for Decatur in the women’s 500-meter freestyle, while Laura Prengaman finished 10th. In the men’s 200-meter freestyle relay, the Decatur team of Neville, Yandle, Murray and Jake Blazer finished fifth. Similarly, the Decatur girls’ team of Bankert, O’Brien-Shields, Prengaman and McLoota finished fifth in the women’s 200-meter freestyle relay.

In the women’s 100-meter backstroke, Taylor Blazer was first and Bankert was third. Decatur’s Bo Deskins finished seventh in the men’s 100-meter backstroke. In the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, McLoota was third and O’Brien-Shields was sixth.In the men’s 100-meter breaststroke, Garrett Neville finished third.

Finally, in the women’s 400-meter freestyle relay, the Decatur team of Geiser, Hansen, Carroll and Blazer finished first. On the men’s side, the Decatur team of Yandle, Flakowitz, Neville and Blazer finished second.