By Bob Putnam, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, November 6, 2010
SARASOTA — In a region swim meet field considered one of the toughest in the state, Newsome’s girls qualified just enough swimmers to finish third overall Saturday in Class 3A-2 with 244 points, the highest finish among Hillsborough County teams.
“We’re the strongest team in our county, and we did well in an incredibly fast region,” Newsome coach Chau Clark said. “Competition is good, and we had some great times.”
The Wolves had two champions, Barbara Caraballo in the 200 individual medley (2 minutes, 5 seconds) and Kylie Piche in the 50 free (24.82). Caraballo also finished second in the 100 breast, missing another title by 0.026 seconds.
“It was just a mistake by Barbara at the end,” Clark said. “She’ll learn from that, come back and hopefully win at state.”
Palm Harbor University claimed its seventh straight boys title. The Hurricanes had a tough test against rival Countryside, which was bolstered by the addition of Matt Ellis, a transfer from Texas.
PHU won just two events but scored in every event except diving. It was the depth of their scoring that allowed the Hurricanes to win 287 to 267.
“As our boys go from one level to the next, it continues to be a test of how our strong our depth is,” PHU coach Lisa Bitting said.
On the girls side, PHU took second in the team standings with 257 points. Sarasota Riverview, the three-time defending state champion in 3A, won the girls title with 367 points.
