Cedar Ridge Swimming

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior swimmer Sophia Stinnett. Last week at the 3A State Swimming Championships, Stinnett finished third in the state in the 100 yard backstroke. It was her first medal in the State Championships. At the Greensboro Aquatic Center on February 3rd, Stinnett won two Central Regional championships. She claimed the gold medal in the 500 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke. It was the third time that Stinnett qualified for the state championships. Stinnett first reached the state championships as a freshman. In her sophomore season, she finished 6th in the 500 yard freestyle at the state championships. She finished 11th in the state in the 200 yard freestyle. This season, Stinnett won an individual Central Conference championship for the third time in her career. Stinnett captured the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:31.96. In 2022 and 2023, Stinnett won the conference title in the 200 yard freestyle. Stinnett was also part of the relay team for Cedar Ridge that won the 400 yard freestyle conference championship. Stinnett, Quinn McCrimmon, Hala Zafar and Sierra Godfrey captured the championship at 1:47.82. High school swimming season is over for Stinnett, but her club season continues this month and into the spring. This is the third time that Stinnett has earned Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week.

Cedar Ridge junior Sophia Stinnett has won three Central Conference championships over the past three years. She wasn’t expecting the same level of success as she went into the Central Regional championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Saturday night. Yet Stinnett came away with her first two regional titles in her career. Stinnett won the 100 yard backstroke regional championship, finishing at 1:01.17. She beat out Alexis Krzyzaniak of Durham School of the Arts, who clocked in at 1:03.42. Stinnett also captured the gold medal in the 500 yard freestyle, finishing the longest event in swimming at 5:15.59. Avery Shopping of Carrboro was the runner-up at 5:22.86. Stinnett won the 500 freestyle in the Central Conference championship last week at the Orange County Sportsplex in Hillsborough, where she finished at 5:31.96. Also on Saturday, Stinnett claimed the silver medal with in the women’s 400 yard freestyle relay. Stinnett swam the anchor leg with Quinn McCrimmon, Hala Zafar and Sierra Godfrey. They finished with a time of 4:08.14, which earned them a spot in the 3A State Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary on Thursday. This will be the third year in a row that Stinnett has participated in the state championship meet. This time, she will go as a two-time Central Regional champion.

Swimming is unique in the way it bonds Cedar Ridge and Orange participants. For one thing, the competitors usually practice together many winter mornings at the Orange County Sportsplex. Perhaps that’s why when the Central Conference Championships were held last Thursday at the Orange County Sportsplex, the relay teams for Cedar Ridge and Orange asked to do the post-meet interview together. It was a victorious night for both relay teams. Cedar Ridge’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Phillip Cauwels, Jacob Olmstead, Christopher Seawell and Nikhil Agans won the conference championship with a time of 1:42.33. Cauwels, Olmstead, Seawell and Agans automatically qualified for the 3A Central Regionals, which will be held this Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Orange’s 200 yard medley team of Alex Andre, Luke Roman, Nick Baczara and Ayden Twiddy won two conference championships. They captured the 200 yard medley relay, finishing at 1:53.13. Andre, Roman, Baczara and Twiddy also won the 400 yard freestyle relay at 3:38.46. It was a huge night for several individual swimmers. Roman, a junior, was named the Central Conference Male Swimmer of the Year for the second time in his career. Cedar Ridge’s Seawell, a freshman, won his first individual conference title in the 50 yard freestyle at 25.24 seconds. Baczara and Andre each won two individual championships. 

This weekend, Cedar Ridge’s 400 yard freestyle relay team will compete in the 3A Central Regional Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Last Wednesday in the Central Conference Championships at the Orange County Sportsplex, the team of Quinn McCrimmon, Sophia Stinnett, Sierra Godfrey and Hala Zafar claimed the conference title in the 400 yard freestyle relay, ending with a time of 4:19.23. Stinnett, a junior, spam the anchor leg in 27.19 seconds, beating Western Alamance’s Adriana Carmon to the wall. McCrimmon, who opened for Cedar Ridge, captured the conference championship in the 100 yard butterfly earlier in the night. McCrimmon finished at 1:04.66. Last year, McCrimmon won the conference championship in the 200 yard individual medley. Stinnett, a junior, claimed an individual conference championship for the third year in a row. She won the 500 yard freestyle for the first time in her career, closing with a time of 5:31.96. In 2022 and 2023, Stinnett won the conference championship in the 200 yard freestyle. McCrimmon also finished with the silver medal in the 200 yard individual medley.  Zafar, a sophomore, came away with the bronze medal in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:25.81. The championship by the relay team helped the Cedar Ridge women’s swimming team finished second in the Central Conference team standing. The 3A Central Regional championships will get underway at 4 o’clock on Saturday afternoon.

It was senior night for the Cedar Ridge men’s and women’s swimming teams at the Orange County Sportsplex last week. On Wednesday night, senior Nikhil Agans won two gold medals at the Central Conference Swimming Championships at the SportsPlex. Agans won the 100 yard freestyle, where he finished with a time of 51.39 seconds. Last year, Agans won the conference title in the 200 yard freestyle, where he holds the school record of 1:51.70. In 2023, Agans finished fifth in the 100 yard freestyle in the 3A State Championships. In addition, Agans teamed with Phillip Cauwels, Jacob Olmstead and Christopher Seawell to win the 200 yard freestyle relay. They fiinshed with a time of 1:42.33. In his career, Agans has broken the school record in the 200 yard freestyle twice. Also, Catherine Latham celebrated senior night. On Wednesday night, Latham teamed with Alyssa Judkins, Jaylyn Brown and Emily Habib to finish fourth in the conference in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Latham also teamed wit Sierra Godfrey, Habib and Sarah Latham in the 200 yard medley relay with at time of 2:31.36. Latham also qualified for the conference championships in the 100 yard butterfly, where she finished seventh. She finished sixth in the 100 yard breastroke. Agans will continue his senior season in the Central Regionals at the Greensboro Aquatic Center next Saturday.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore swimmer Quinn McCrimmon. Last week, McCrimmon competed in two events at the 3A State Swimming Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. In the 200 yard individual medley, McCrimmon finished 13^th in the state with a time of 2:24.19. McCrimmon also qualified for the 100 yard butterfly. She finished 13^th in the state, as well, in the butterfly as she touched the wall at 1:03.94. Last month in the Central Carolina Conference championships at the Orange County Sportsplex, McCrimmon won the conference championship in the 200 yard individual medley. She took the bronze medal in the 100 yard butterfly. In the 400 yard freestyle relay, McCrimmon teamed with Abbygale Pearce, Sophia Stinnett and Hala Zafar to finish 2^nd in the conference with a time of 4:17.65. This was the first time that McCrimmon had a chance to swim in the state championships. In her freshman year, Cedar Ridge was forced to miss the state championships because of a COVID outbreak. Now that Cedar Ridge swimming has reached the offseason, McCrimmon will work with her travel team in preparation for next winter when her junior season begins.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is sophomore swimmer Sophia Stinnett. This weekend, Stinnett qualified for the state championships in two separate events at the Central Regionals at the Greensboro AquatIc Center. In the 200 yard freestyle, Stinnett finished fourth with a time of 2:02.84. Later in the day, Stinnett finished with the bronze medal in the 500 yard freestyle. She touched the wall at 5:26.76. Last week at the Central Carolina Conference championships, Stinnett won the gold medal for the second year in a row in the 200 yard freestyle. She captured the conference crown with a time of 2:05.05. She also came away with two silver medals. She finished second in the 500 yard freestyle and the 400 yard freestyle relay, where she teamed with Quinn McCrimmon, Abbygale Pearce and Hala Zafar. Last year, Stinnett made All-Central Carolina Conference as a freshman. She teamed with Olivia Aitkin, McCrimmon and Pearce to set the school record in the 400 yard freestyle relay with a mark of 4:14.69. This Saturday, Stinnett will compete in the 3A State Swimming Championships at the Cary Aquatic Center.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior swimmer Nikhil Agans. Last week, Agans won the Central Carolina Conference championship in the 200 yard freestyle. He claimed the gold medal with a time of 1:49.16. Agans also won the silver medal in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 23.49 seconds. Agans joined Jason Pattison, Willem Crittenden, and Phillip Cauwels to earn the bronze medal in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Agans had already qualified for the Central Regional Championships earlier in January. In a twi-meet against Orange and Walter Williams, Agans won the 100 yard freestyle with a qualifying time of 51.17 seconds. Agans also qualified for regionals in the 100 yard backstroke, coming in first with a time of 59.25 seconds. The 3A Central Regional Championships will be held on Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Agans’ goal is to finish in the top six in any of the events where he’s qualified, which would earn a spot in the 3A State Championships in Cary. over the past two weeks, Agans has broken two school records. Agans is part of a talented Cedar Ridge swimming team that has performed well throughout the course of this season.

It wasn’t enough for Cedar Ridge junior Nikhil Agans to break one school swimming record last week.

On Wednesday night, he broke another one.

Competing in the 200 yard freestyle, Agans set another Cedar Ridge school record during the Central Carolina Conference Swimming Championships at the Orange County Sportsplex. Agans won the conference championship in the 200 freestyle with a new mark of 1:51.70. Last year, Agans timed out at 1:56.41 in the CCC Championships.

Agans was one of three Cedar Ridge swimmers to win gold medals. In addition, sophomore Sophia Stinnett captured the conference championship in the 200 yard freestyle. Plus, sophomore Quinn McCrimmon won the 200 yard individual medley and qualified for the 3A Central Regional Championships, which will take place at the Greensboro Aquatic Center next Friday.

On the night, Agans finished with a gold medal in the 200 yard freestyle, as well as a silver medal in the 50 yard freestyle. Facing a field of 18 swimmers, Agans’ time of 23.49 seconds was good enough for 2nd place and a spot in Greensboro.

Last week, Agans broke the school record in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 59.25 seconds, shattering the previous mark by over three seconds.

Agans, who has swam on-and-off since he was six years old, has shown noticeable improvement throughout the season. Like all of his teammates, he wakes up at 5:30 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays for practice at the Sportsplex, where the Cedar Ridge and Orange swim teams workout together.

“It takes some commitment to wake up early in the morning,” Agans said after last week’s meet against Orange and Walter Williams. “If you really do like swimming, it’s not too hard to wake up. I love my teammates, and I love meets. Not just for the racing, but to talk to people behind the blocks.”

Agans joined sophomore Willem Crittenden, Philip Cauwels and Jason Pattison to finish third in the 400 yard freestyle relay, the final event of the night. The relay team earned a bronze medal.

On the women’s side, Stinnett successfully defended her championship in the 200 yard freestyle. She finished first at 2:05.05. Last year, Stinnett won the 200 freestyle as a freshman at a time of 2:05.28. Stinnett will also be in regionals next Friday.

Stinnett also came away with two silver medals. She finished second in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:34.22. Eastern Alamance senior Braylee Carter won the gold.

Stinnett joined McCrimmon, Abbygale Pearce and Hala Zafar to finish second in the 400 yard freestyle relay. The quartet came in second at 4:17.65, automatically earning a spot in regionals.

The Cedar Ridge women finished second in the team standings. They had 322 points, barely finishing behind first-place Orange, who had 339.

In addition, McCrimmon a bronze medal in the 100 yard butterfly at 1:06.70. Abigail Emrich of Northwood won the gold medal.

The Cedar Ridge men’s team finished 5th in the team standings.

Pattison, a senior who did play-by-play for Cedar Ridge football on Hillsboroughsports.com, earned three bronze medals. He finished third in the 100 yard freestyle at 56.56 seconds. In the 100 backstroke, Pattison touched the wall at 1:07.61.

Cedar Ridge’s Phillip Cauwels had two bronze medals. In addition to the 400 freestyle relay, he finished third in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 6:02.35.

Cedar Ridge senior swimmer Jason Pattison left the Central Carolina Conference championships with a lot of hardware. On Wednesday night at the Orange County Sportsplex, Pattison came away with three bronze medals. He finished third in the 200 yard medley relay. Pattison was joined by junior Nikhil Agans, sophomore Phillip Cauwels and sophomore Willem Crittenden. Later, Pattison finished third in the 100 yard freestyle, where he has already qualified for the 3A Central Regionals, which will take place next Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. To wrap up the night, Pattison joined Crittenden, Cauwels and Agans to finish third in the 400 yard freestyle relay. On top of everything else, Pattison is also a member of the Cedar Ridge lacrosse team. Last season, Cedar Ridge reached the state quarterfinals under first-year head coach Cole Churchill, a member of Cedar Ridge’s 2016 team that reached the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional Championship game. While Pattison finishes up swimming season, he is already preparing for the upcoming lacrosse season where an upstart Red Wolf team will take the field inside Red Wolves Stadium next month. In the interest of full disclosure, Jason also did play-by-play for the Cedar Ridge football team on Hillsboroughsports.com last fall.