The women’s swimming team ended its season with its third consecutive DAC-VII conference title and sent five athletes to the state championship.
Senior Hayley Clark qualified for states individually in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle with a second-place finish in both events at the 4A Central regional championship held February 2-4.
Clark, who will swim for Princeton University next year, also placed second in both events at the state meet, with a time of 1:48.79 in the 200 and 4:50.99 in the 500, earning her all-state honors. The state championship was held February 9 and 10 in Raleigh.
Sophomore Luca Pirone—along with seniors Jessica Chen, Clark and Makenna Corcoran—competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay, placing 17th in the preliminary round of the state championship.
Clark, Corcoran and Pirone were joined by sophomore Jordan Biggerstaf for the 400-yard freestyle relay, where the team also placed 17th in the preliminary round.
Head Coach Greg Zoltners, who retired from teaching math at Chapel Hill High School last year but stayed on as the team’s swimming coach, said he was proud of the swimmers’ accomplishments this season.
“They swam well and handled both success and adversity with composure,” Zoltners said.
Assistant coach and math teacher Kelly McGrath said the bonds the Tiger swimmers formed helped propel the team to the conference title.
“They had a lot of success and a lot of personal best times through the season. The camaraderie and enthusiasm they had far surpassed previous seasons. I really enjoyed working with the girls this year,” McGrath said.
But the conference championship wasn’t a sure thing, captain and senior Lola Mestas said.
“The conference meet was the most exciting, especially since we weren’t sure if we were going to win at one point! But, thanks to some really great swims, we pulled through and won,” Mestas said.
Senior Caroline Gwaltney helped propel the Tigers to the DAC-VII title by taking second in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.82) and third in the 200-yard individual medley (2:18.64), while Clark placed second in the 200-yard freestyle and first in the 500-yard freestyle. The successes of the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay teams helped the Tigers secure the conference win.
“[Three consecutive] conference champions is a hard thing to accomplish, and … just highlights the level of success our team has had in recent years!” senior captain Emily Killgallen said.
Athletic director Lewis Newman credited the swimmers’ success to the coaching they have received the past few years.
“Both the boys and the girls have been incredible for a long period of time. Credit for that needs to go to the coaching. Coach Zoltners has done an incredible job of coaching them and helping them win multiple years in a row,” Newman said.
