Two Orange High swimmers competed in their respective individual championship meets during the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A State Swimming Championships.
In addition, Cedar Ridge’s Devin Bunner, who was named the Big 8 Male Swimmer of the Year last month at the Big 8 Conference Championships, finished eighth in the 100 yard breaststroke on Saturday afternoon at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary.
Orange junior Matthew Geib competed in the championship final individually and in a relay race. Geib finished 7th in the 100 yard butterfly at 53.11 seconds. Boyd Poelke of Marvin Ridge captured the championship at 49.26 seconds.
Geib joined senior Noah Jimison, Cross Roman and Owen Rasinske to come in 8th in the state in the 200 yard medley relay at 1:41.55. Earlier in the day, Geib, Jimison, Roman, and Rasinske qualified for the championship race with an eighth place finish in the preliminaries.
It was the last time that Jimison and Roman, both seniors, would race alongside junior teammates Geib and Rasinske.
“In my mind, I was just trying to do my best today,” Jimison said. “We were looking forward to the relays. My goal is this meet was to make the (championship) finals. So I just wanted to make everyone proud.”
In addition, Jimison qualified for the state championships in two individual events. He finished 12th in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:01.21. In the 100 yard backstroke, Jimison came in 14th at 55.65 seconds.
The previous week in the 3A Central Regionals in Greensboro , Jimison, Geib, Roman and Rasinske won the regional championship and broke the school record in the 200 medley with a time of 1:40.44.
“I just wanted to leave it all in the water,” Roman said. “I wanted to give it everything I had and make it the best meet I’ve ever had in my four years at Orange. That’s what I’ll remember about my time at Orange. Breaking the records with my boys right here and just really enjoying the entire four years.”
Bunner ended his Cedar Ridge career with a 10th place finish in the 200 yard individual medley. He touched the wall at 2:00.46.
Cedar Ridge’s 400 yard freestyle relay team of Bunner, Gabriel Castaneda, John Garcia and Grant Fox finished 17th in the preliminaries, ending up with a time of 3:35.39.
In the women’s ranks, Orange’s 200 yard medley team of Abby Dease, Ashley Behringer, Brooke Walker and Calla Walker finished 16th in the 200 yard relay at 1:59.14.
Dease, Calla Walker, Behringer and Melissa Campbell finished 16th in the 400 yard freestyle relay. They ended up with a time of 3:54.62. Campbell is a sophomore, while Walker, Dease and Behringer are all juniors.
Behringer also qualified for the state championships in two individual events. She finished 18th in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:21.45. In the 100 yard butterfly, Behringer came in 17th at 1:01.74.
Calla Walker, a junior, came in 18th in the 50 yard freestyle at 25.83 seconds.
Orange’s Brooke Walker came in 16th in the 100 yard backstroke at 1:13.28.
Chapel Hill won the men’s team state championship at 266 points. Marvin Ridge had 254. Orange finished 13th in the men’s standings with 75 points.
Charlotte Catholic won the women’s state championship.