Hove notches two 4ths, Dolphin boys second at state

ORLANDO — Mosley’s Victoria Hove claimed the most personal glory, but it was the runner-up Dolphins’ boys team that perhaps made the biggest splash on Saturday in the state Class 2A swimming and diving championships at the Central Florida YMCA Aquatic Center.

Hove placed fourth in the 200 IM and fourth in the 100 breaststroke for the top individual finishes of any Bay County swimmer. Her preliminary time in the IM was worthy of All-American consideration.

Meanwhile, the Mosley boys were entered in nine events and were a threat throughout for the boys team competition. The Dolphins got off to a strong start in the first swimming event, the 200 medley relay. The unit of Michael Duderstadt, Evan Escobar, Joshua Bryant and Caleb Champagne qualified first in the morning preliminaries, then followed that by winning an exciting final in edging both Martin County and Paxon in 1:38.33.

That gave the Dolphins the immediate team lead, and when Caleb Champagne won the consolation finals of the 50 freestyle and placed 11th in the 100 freestyle, Mosley trailed first-place Gainesville 87-83, with Barron Collier a close third with 81.

At that point there were five events remaining, and the Dolphins were entered in four of them, including three in the championship finals were the most points were awarded.

Gainesville placed 5-6 in the 500 freestyle, however, to open a 114-93 bulge and basically locked up the team title in the 100 backstroke by placing 1-2 when Mosley didn’t have a swimmer entered. The Dolphins’ got strong efforts by Duderstadt and Chet Seaman in the 100 breaststroke to clinch second place entering the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.

The finals standings were Gainesville first with 219, Mosley second with 178 and Barron Collier third with 158. Tallahassee Chiles won the girls title with 298½ points. Mosley was 16th with 50.

Junior Chris Jackson was Rutherford’s lone participant and continued his strong prep career with a fourth place in boys 1-meter diving. Jackson totaled 401.40 points in the finals.

Jamie McDonald represented Arnold and was 11th in the girls 200 freestyle in 1:58.00.

Girls

• 200 medley relay: 10. Mosley (Taylor Wilder, Alysiah Stock, Victoria Hove, Kaitlyn Blais) 1:56.31.
• 200 freestyle: 11. Jamie McDonald, Arnold, 1:58.00
• 200 IM: 4. Victoria Hove, Mosley, 2:05.87.
• 100 breaststroke: 4. Victoria Hove, Mosley, 1:06.30.
• 400 freestyle relay: 14. Mosley (Lindsay Gurganus, Emily Fisher, Kaitlyn Blais, Victoria Hove) 3:48.35.

Boys

• 200 medley relay: 1. Mosley (Michael Whitehead, Chet Seaman, Brandon Yates, Caleb Champagne) 1:38.33.
• 200 freestyle: 10. Jonathan Ratliff 1:44.00, 14. Michael Whitehead 1:46.94, 21. Evan Escobar, Mosley 1:48.77.
• 200 IM: 8. Michael Duderstadt 1:55.71, 10. Chet Seaman 1:56.58.
• 50 freestyle: 9. Caleb Champagne, Mosley, 21.64.
• 100 freestyle: 11. Caleb Champagne, Mosley, 48.33.
• 500 freestyle: 10. Jonathan Ratliff, Mosley, 4:40.05, 14. Michael Whitehead, Mosley, 4:43.82.
• 200 freestyle relay: 3. Mosley (Michael Duderstadt, Evan Escobar, Joshua Bryant, Caleb Champagne) 1:27.99.
• 100 breaststroke: 5. Michael Duderstadt 58.33, 9. Chet Seaman 59.15, 20. Brandon Yates, Mosley, 1:02.51.
• 400 freestyle relay: 4. Mosley (Evan Escobar, Joshua Bryant, Chet Seaman, Michael Duderstadt) 3:15.24.
• 1-meter diving: 4. Chris Jackson, Rutherford, 401.40.