As 2019 has come to a close, Thunder Radio Sports looks back at some of the highlights of the calendar year for each of the more than 40 prep teams we follow and report on. Today we look back at some of the highlights of year for the swim teams at Coffee County CHS, Coffee County Middle and Westwood Middle schools.
Becky Behrendorff took over the reins of the prep swim programs for the 2018 and 2019 season and immediately saw an increase in numbers, especially in the middle school division. For the first time ever, Westwood and Coffee County Middle fielded separate teams after competing together in recent years.
Twelve different middle school swimmers competed at the regional swim meet in January. Thunder Radio reported on the region meet with a story we published on January 28th.
On Saturday, the Westwood Middle and Coffee County Middle swim teams competed in the MTHSSA Middle School Region Meet in Nashville.
For Coffee County, the girls’ 200 freestyle relay team captured an 11th place finish with a time of 2:08.48. The girls’ 200 medley relay team finished in 13th place in a time of 2:23.24, bettering their seeding time by 0.78 seconds. The 200 freestyle relay team came in 25th place with a time of 2:25.17. In individual races,
- Emily Williams captured 6th place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:11.32 which was more than 2 seconds better than her season best time she recorded in the preliminaries. Emily also touched the wall in 1:21.66 in the finals of the 100 breaststroke to claim 13th
- Clancy Sand finished 12th in the 50 freestyle in a season best time of 28.41 and 26th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:23.35.
- Elli Masters swam the 50 freestyle in a season best time of 33.25 and swam the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:25.98.
- Patrice Driggers swam the 50 freestyle in a season best time of 36.51.
- Michael Floyd swam the 50 freestyle in a season best time of 33.19.
- Riley Bellamy swam the 50 freestyle in a season best time of 33.87 and the 100 freestyle in a season best time of 1:15.08.
- Emily Snider swam the 100 freestyle in a season best time of 1:16.46.
- Taylor Wall swam the 500 freestyle in a season best time of 7:03.35 to finish in 23rd place and finished the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:37.32
For Westwood, the girls’ 200 medley relay team finished in a time of 2:42.50. In individual races,
- Nick Bogle grabbed a 3rd place finish in the 100 butterfly as he posted a race time of 56.27. Bogle also finished 5th in the 200 IM as he bettered his preliminary time by 5 seconds to cover the distance in 2:08.88.
- Abby Gilday cut more than 5 seconds off her 200 freestyle time as she finished in 2:30.20 and she swam the 50 freestyle in 32.63
- Elsie Lazalier trimmed her season best time in the 200 freestyle as she swam the distance in 2:35.20. Lazalier also posted a season best time in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:34.94 which was over a 4 second improvement from her previous best.
- Cale Hays swam the 50 freestyle in 37.81
The regional meet ends the prep season for the middle school swimmers.
The high school team sent 4 members to the state meet in Nashville in February. Thunder Radio reported on the state meet in a story we brought to you on February 11th.
Four members of the Coffee County CHS swim team competed on Friday and Saturday in the Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association state meet. The Raider swimmers got a pair of Top 20 finishes and 2 new personal bests in the 2 day event in Nashville.
Jack Beachboard had the highest Raider finish as he captured a 13th place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke with a new personal best time of 59.44. Beachboard also grabbed a 26th place finish in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.11.
Kaylee Williams swam a personal best time of 1:08.75 in a swim-off for the 100 yard breaststroke. Williams finished the event with a 13th place finish. Williams also finished in 44th place in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:20.95.
Jase Rice had a 42nd place finish in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:13.02. Anna O’Connor swam a time of 1:08.48 in the 100 yard butterfly to finish in 72nd place.
