Tigers show Spirit at Region Championships
Tigers post 32 best times; Graham, Mia, William earn new State cuts.
All 22 of this year’s USN Swimming Tigers made the short trek to Centennial Sportsplex last Friday to compete in the MTHSSA Region Championships. Over 800 swimmers from 60 schools participated. For some of our team, this represented the culmination of their season, while others swam in preparation for the State championship in two weeks. On the heels of 32 best times, the Tigers finished the day in 7th place overall, earning 196 points overall (up from 153 points in 2018).
The girls’ team kicked off the meet with a huge drop in the 200 medley relay, taking four seconds off their seed time to earn a spot on the USN all-time Top 10 list. Lucy Mauries, Abby Liff, Mia Pretorius, and Kursten Griffin finished 9th overall. They cracked the 2:00 barrier for the first time all season, finishing in 1:58.40.
In the 200 freestyle, all four of our entries swam season best times. Arianna Bendell had the biggest drop of the group, cutting over 5 seconds off her lifetime best, while Caroline Cramer, Lauren French, and Annie French all showed significant improvement as well. Both our swimmers in the 200 IM – Sheeline Yu and Gracie Li – beat their seed times.
Our strongest individual race of the day in the girls’ pool came in the 50 freestyle, where Kursten Griffin swam a lifetime best to move up from 7th to 2nd, finishing in 24.90. Lucy Mauries sliced nearly a second off her lifetime best as well, finishing in 27.27.
After a ten-minute break, the meet resumed with the 100 butterfly. Mia Pretorius had the Tigers’ standout swim of the race, cutting over two seconds off her seed time to punch her individual ticket to the State meet. Her time was also a lifetime best.
All six of our entries in the 100 freestyle swam season bests; Kursten Griffin (9th) and Abby Liff (12th) both scored points, while Caroline Cramer posted a 2.5 second improvement over her previous lifetime best.
The girls’ 200 free relay (Mia, Abby, Caroline, Kursten) swam our season best time by over four seconds, moving up to 6th and earning a spot on the USN all-time Top 10.
In the 100 breaststroke, Annie French had the standout swim, earning a lifetime best by over a second. Abby Liff moved up to third on the USN all-time Top 10 list and finished sixth overall, and Harper Johnston, Sheeline, Ashleigh Grindon, and Isha Upender all had strong swims as well. Notably, this was the final race of Ashleigh and Isha’s high school careers, and it was inspiring to see them go out on a high note.
Finally, in the 400 freestyle relay, Mia, Annie, Caroline, and Lucy scored points with four solid splits.
In the boys’ pool, our regular medley relay (Stefan Pretorius, Elliott Clark, Sage Sasaki, and Ian Brash) improved on their season best by two seconds to finish 7th. They carried that momentum forward, as Stefan returned to the pool for the 200 freestyle minutes later, where he posted a lifetime best. Our other three entries in that race – Graham Shockley, Arnav Reddy, and Wyatt Washko –posted improvements as well. Shortly afterwards, Sage swam a savvy 200 IM and dropped over a second off his lifetime best.
In the 50 freestyle, William Grobmyer destroyed his heat and finished just .15 seconds off the state cut in the event. Ian Brash, swimming in the fastest heat, finished just off his best time and looks primed to break the school record in two weeks at state.
In the 100 freestyle, all four of our entries swam lifetime bests. William led the way with a 3 second drop to earn a new state qualifying time, and Arnav Reddy broke the 1:00 barrier for the first time. Graham Shockley rode this momentum in the 500 freestyle, swimming a season best by 12 seconds to earn his way to the state meet. He swam as part of the 200 freestyle relay minutes later and joined William, Stefan, and Ian to finish 8th overall with a season best time.
Elliott Clark returned to post a huge improvement in his 100 breaststroke, breaking 1:06 and 1:05 for the first time to score some big points. Sage Sasaki equaled his season best and scored as well. And in the boys’ final event, Ian, Sage, Arnav, and William swam a season best time to take 9th place and score some valuable points.
Moving forward, the Tigers will bring 12 swimmers to the State meet in two weeks. We’re proud of this first championship performance and excited about the next steps for the team – go Tigers!
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2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.