The Colts celebrate after a fantastic performance at the Regional Swim Meet

Vinitcio Estrada-Zerhoudi, CFNN Reporter

On Friday, January 31st at the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) in Cary, The Colts participated in the regional swim meet. The Colts were focused and ready to compete, as they set several Personal Records and some new school records. Amelia Shook set school records in the 100 Backstroke and 100 Butterfly. Dylan Sneed set a new school record in the 100 Breastroke.

The State Qualifying Girls Relay Team from L-R: Lily Terwilliger, Hannah Williams, Amelia Shook, and Gracie McInroy

Overall the boys and girls teams qualified for seven events for the state finals. The girls brought the heat and qualified for five of those events. Of the five events, three were individual races: Lily Terwilliger qualified in the 200 IM, Amelia Shook in the 100 Fly, and in the 100 Back. The other two qualifiers were relays: the 200 Medley Relay and the 400 Free Relay.

In the 200 yard Medley Relay Lily Terwilliger, Hannah Williams, Amelia Shook, and Gracie McInroy, finished with a time of 2:08.67, a second off their PR from last meet. They placed 7th, and qualified for states.

“The girls did a great job, they started the meet off with a bang making states in that first relay and that set the momentum for the whole day” said Mrs. Shook after the race. 

Lakin Williams swam the individual 200 yard Freestyle with a time of 2:36.80, beating her PR by a second. 

Lily Terwiliger was pumped after her races.

In the 200 yard IM, Lily Terwilliger swam a 2:43.42, beating her PR by 3 seconds. She placed 8th overall which qualified her for states.

“If you would have told me I would be a state qualifier in the 200 IM as a new swimmer my freshman year, I would not have believed you,” Lily reflected after the race. “To see how far I’ve come now is rewarding, and I could not have done it without my coach, Mrs. Shook. She helped me believe that I could achieve anything and making it to states in this event shows just how far I’ve come. I could not be any happier with the end of my senior year.”

In the 50 yard Freestyle, Gracie McInroy swam a 29.67 beating her PR by a fraction of  a second. 

Carrying on the PR streak, In the 100 yard Butterfly Amelia Shook beat her PR and solidified the school record yet again. She swam a 1:02.31 with her last PR being 1:03.65. Shook placed 3rd, medaling and qualifying for states.

Shook was all smiles after breaking several school records.

“I got ninth place last year and freshman year so I just took the frustration into practice and worked as hard as I could to secure my spot at states and ended up medaling this year”. Said Amelia, “Getting the school record at regionals wasn’t a shock to me since I already had it but what I was more proud of was beating my own personal time.”

Hannah Williams, and Tanya Chavez, also swam the 100 yard Butterfly with times of 1:17.66 and 1:24.94 respectively. Williams beat her PR by .10th of a second and Tanya beat her’s by a second.

In the grueling 500 yard Freestyle recovering Iris Terwilliger swam a 7:23.72 finishing in 23rd place.

In the 200 yard Freestyle Relay Lakin Williams, Catherine Sexton, Lily Brinker, and Iris Terwilliger swam a 2:05.42 finishing in 17th place.

Once again breaking school records, Amelia beat her PR and the school record in the 100 yard Backstroke with a 1:02.41 coming in at 4th place and qualifying for states.

They can’t tootsie roll, but they sure can Butterfly!

Lily Terwilliger also swam the 100 yard Backstroke finishing with a PR of 1:14.13 by about 4 seconds landing her in 15th place.

Dylan Sneed also broke the school record in the 100 yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:23.29 beating the school record by about .40 seconds. Hannah Williams followed closely with a 1:24.72, with her last time of 1:23.76 being the last school record.

The last event and highly anticipated 400 yard Freestyle Relay swam by Lily Terwilliger, Gracie McInroy, Hannah Williams, and Amelia Shook finished with a seasonal PR of 4:18.98 about 10 seconds faster. They finished in 7th place qualifying for states. The Colts hope to break the school record at states as they were .70 seconds off.

Come out and support the Colts at the NCHSAA State Championships in Cary at the Triangle Aquatic Center on Saturday the 8th at 7 am. They hope to break their PR’s and more school records.