Although it didn’t win, Hough High School’s first foray into the Class 4A state swimming and diving meet turned out to be good experience for the Huskies.
Both the Hough boys and girls squads finished in fifth place in the team standings during the meet held at Cary’s Triangle Aquatic Center Feb. 10-11.
The boys team received a major lift from junior Peter Brumm, who captured an individual state championship in the 100-yard butterfly with an All-American time of 49.41 seconds. Brumm had a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle, also attaining All-American status in that event in 1:39.64.
In addition, Brumm was on two second-place relay teams: Brumm, Patrick Cowley, Andrew Botelho and John Manchester clocked in in 1 minute, 37.32 seconds, and in the meet’s final race, the same foursome completed the 400 freestyle relay in 3:10.76.
Manchester also had a strong individual day, taking third place in the 500 freestyle (4:32.41) and fifth in the 200 free (1:42.28). Hough’s Charles Mitchell took third place in the 1-meter diving competition, posting a score of 382.10.
Among other Lake Norman-area boys competitors, Hopewell’s Lee Ward had an eighth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.74).
The Hough boys finished with 158 points. North Meck was in a 28th-place tie with 17 points, while Hopewell was 30th with 15.
The Hough girls totaled 136 points. North Mecklenburg High tied for 10th (100 points), and Hopewell tied for the 27th position (17).
Payton Schrum, Heather Merritt and Alexandria Kitchens played leading roles for the Hough girls. Schrum had the top individual finish for the girls, taking second place in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.75). Merritt took fourth place in the 200 freestyle (1:53.55). Kitchens was fifth in the 100 backstroke (57.84), while Merritt was sixth in the same event (57.87).
Schrum, Merritt and Kitchens were on the 200 medley relay team that finished third (1:47.14) with help from Shannon Bauer. The same four swimmers turned in a fourth-place performance in the 400 freestyle relay (3:36.60).
For North Meck, Linsay Cooper was a standout, hauling in a silver medal in the 100 butterfly (56.99). Cooper also helped the Vikings to a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, in which she teamed with Danielle Oliver, Molly Sanborn and Kaitlyn Poff with a time of 1:39.79.
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