Pioneers see fast 3-A foes
From staff reports

HICKORY — Facing some good competition, Watauga’s boys’ swim team took third in a meet held at the Hickory YMCA last Thursday.

The Pioneers finished with 106 points, while Lake Norman took first with 133. Hickory was second with 120 points and Fred T. Foard was fourth with 93 points.

Watauga’s girls’ team finished fourth in its meet with 53 points. Lake Norman won with 161 points, followed by Hickory with 145 and Fred T. Foard with 99.

Watauga coach David Gragg knew that taking on Lake Norman, Hickory and Fred T. Foard would be a tough task. He wanted to prepare his swimmers for the upcoming regional meet, which is Feb. 2 in Charlotte. The trio of schools are a bit faster than what the Pioneers see in the Northwestern 4-A Conference, and Gragg wanted the Pioneers to be ready for it when regionals arrived.

“They are all 3-A schools and I know that Lake Norman will contend for a state title in both men’s and women’s,” Gragg said.

William Rayner provided Watauga’s boys’ team with its two individual victories, which was in the 50-yard freestyle. Rayner covered the distance in 24.41 seconds.

He also won the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.17. Rayner just touched the wall before Lake Norman’s Tyler Hill, who swam a 59.30.

“William Rayner swam very well,” Gragg said. “He won both of his events and did well.”

Watauga’s other victory was in the 400-yard relay. The team of Jonathan Edwards, Konrad Kosmala, Alden Mast and Rayner won easily with a time of 3:45.11. Hibriten was second with a 3:52.12.

Edwards was third in the 200 freestyle, followed by Mast, who took fourth. Kosmala was third in the 100 freestyle, one place in front of Edwards. Mast was also fourth in the 500 freestyle, while Trevor Jensen was third in the 100 breaststroke.

“The guys did really well,” Gragg said. “We were missing about three or four guys, so they were very competitive.”

In the girls’ meet, Watauga’s medley relay team of Laiken Williams, Crystal Tsang, Ingrid Forsyth and Mallie Billing finished third with a time of 2:26.82.

Billing also finished fourth in the 100 freestyle and Forsyth was fifth in the 500 freestyle.

Watauga’s 200 relay team of Aidan Berry, Carrie Winkler, Kelsey Gustaveson and Kelsey Cole was fourth overall.

So was the Pioneers’ 400 relay team, consisting of Tsang, Williams, Forsyth and Billing.

“The girls in our conference won’t be as fast as those girls,” Gragg said. “They were really fast.”

Watauga has one more regular-season meet Wednesday at Valdese. The NWC meet is scheduled for Jan. 19, also at Valdese.