Publication Date: 1/29/04

With almost 1,000 swimmers representing seven states, Highbridge Aquatics had another great swim meet Jan 16-18 in Knoxville, Tenn. With teams from Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Kentucky, the Pilot Aquatics January Classic was the largest invitational Highbridge has attended in its 14-year history.

Evan Barnett again led the young team with three individual wins. Evan won the 50 and 100 yard Backstroke events with times of 29.00 and 1:02.22 and he beat his own previous team records in both events. He also won the 100 I.M. with a new team record of 1:03.58, beating the old team record set by his older brother three years ago. Evan was awarded the high point trophy for the 11-12 boys age group.

With former 2000 Olympians competing in this invitational, it is quite an accomplishment to qualify in the morning prelims and return to the finals each evening. H.A. had several swimmers able to return to the finals.

Eighteen-year-old Jona-than Borders finished second place in the Men's Open 100 Butterfly with a time of 53.00. Borders also finished 8th in the 200 Fly and 8th in the 50 Free.

In the 13-14 girls division, Highbridge had several qualifiers. In one of the top performances of the meet, Larissa Martin finished 9th place overall in the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:25.69, almost four seconds better than her previous best.

In the same event, teammate Melissa Haug also had a personal best time of 2:27.06 and finished 10th. Priscilla Haug, 13 years old, scored in both backstroke events, finishing 13th in the 200 Back with a 2:22.35 and 16th in the 100 Back with a personal best of 1:07.03.

Fourteen-year-old Riley Martin also scored points in the 13-14 Boys 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:11.39 and finished 8th in the 400 I.M. Riley also passed another milestone by breaking 1:00 in the 100 Butterfly for the first time ever with an overall time of 59.68.

Besides Barnett, Highbridge had two other swimmers who won gold medals in an event. Kristen Wilson won the individual gold by winning the 11-12 Girls 50 Freestyle and 10-year-old Kelsey Boudreaux won the 9-10 Girls 50 Butterfly in a new team record time of 32.32. Kelsey broke her own team record in the 50 Fly while Kristen broke the 500 Freestyle record with a new time of 5:41.36, beating teammate Cassie Sharp's old record of 5:43.75 set three years ago. And little 6-year-old Britt Fugmann set another team record in her 100 Freestyle when she posted a time of 1:46.53.

Some of the best results of the weekend, however, came from several young boys in the 9-10 division. Led by 9-year-old Zachary Haynes, H.A. added a few names to the group able to attend the State Championship meet to be held in Lexington during the weekend of March 19-21. With still another full year in the same age group, Zachary is now able to swim both butterfly events at that meet by achieving a State A cut in the 50 Fly with a time of 38.07. Sam Lyons qualified for the first time ever by making a State A cut in the 100 Backstroke (1:25.59).