Orange Swimming

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is junior swimmer Katie Belle Sikes. Last week, Sikes turned in one of the greatest athletic performances in Orange High history. She won three Gold Medals at the 3A State Swimming Championships. Overall for her career, she has four state titles and is the only female swimmer in Orange High history to win an individual state championship. Sikes was named the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the 3A State Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. She took 1st place in the 50 yard freestyle setting a new state record, regardless of classification, at 22.17 seconds. The time was the 10th fastest ever recorded during a high school meet in American history. It also earned Sikes automatic All-American status. For the first time, Sikes won the state championship in the 100 yard freestyle at 49.45 seconds, setting a 3A State Championship record. Sikes later teamed with Riley White , Piper White and Ainsley Rasinske to win the 200 yard freestyle relay state championship. Sikes swam the anchor leg at 22.65 seconds. Sikes has also won five regional championships in her Orange career. This year, she qualified for regionals in all eight individual events. Last October, Sikes announced her commitment to swim at the University of Georgia. Her name will go down as the greatest swimmer in the history of Orange High School. 

The Orange swimming relay team of Katie Belle Sikes, Riley White, Ainsley Rasinske and Piper White made history during the 3A State Swimming Championships on Saturday at the Triangle Aquatic Center. They became the first relay team in Orange County history to win a state championship. In one of the tightest races of the event, Orange held off Northwest Cabarrus to win the 200 yard freestyle relay. Riley White opened and put the Lady Panthers in the lead with a lap of 24.90 seconds. Piper White followed with a 26-second lap. Rasinske, a freshman, kept Orange near the lead. Sikes swam the anchor leg in 22.65 seconds. Orange finished with a time of 1:41.04, edging Northwest Cabarrus’ time of 1:42.42. White, Rasinske, White and Sikes also won the 3A Central Regional championship and the Central Carolina Conference championship together. The group nearly won a second state championship at the beginning of the event. White, Rasinske, White and Sikes finished 2nd in the 200 yard medley relay. Central Cabarrus finished first. White, Rasinske, White and Sikes will all return next season for their senior year looking to repeat as State Champions, but their mark in Orange swimming history is permanently marked in stone. 

Where do you go from here?

Asking Katie Belle Sikes that question was the best way to get her to hesitate after she captured her first 3A State Championship in February 2022. At the time, it was something she didn’t have a precise answer for.

So much has changed since then.

She’s committed to swim at Georgia. She changed travel teams. She qualified for all eight individual events for the Central Regionals this winter, even though there were less dual meets for her Orange women’s swimming team.

Now, she’s accomplished something that most swimmers only dream of.

On Saturday, Sikes won three gold medals at the NCHSAA 3A State Swimming Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. Sikes repeated as champion in the 50 yard freestyle, setting a new state record (regardless of classification) of 22.17 seconds. The time was the 10th fastest ever recorded during a high school meet in American history. It also earned Sikes automatic All-American status.

For the first time, Sikes won the 100 meters state championship. She touched the wall at 49.45 seconds, another automatic All-American time. Sikes’ time was a 3A State Championship record. The state record is held by Teresa Ivan of Ardrey Kell at 49.25 seconds.

Sikes also made history when she swam the anchor league for the first Orange relay team to ever win a state championship. Riley White, Piper White, Ainsley Rasinske and Sikes captured 1st place in the women’s 200 yard freestyle relay at 1:41.04. In a tight race, Sikes swam the final leg in 22.65 seconds, two seconds faster than Northwest Cabarrus’ Caroline Rinker.

White, Rasinske, Sikes and White are the first relay team in Hillsborough history to win a state championship.

Sikes was named the Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the 3A State Championships, another first-time award for any swimmer from Orange or Cedar Ridge High School.

Last year, Sikes felt more relief than joy after she captured her first state championship. The day, in and of itself, is long. There are preliminaries that start at 9AM, followed by a three-hour wait for finals to begin at 5PM. Last year in between sessions, Sikes got to go back to her grandparents house, Linda and Donald, and take a nap before she became the first Orange female swimmer to win a state championship.

Sikes attributes her better performance in the state championships to a new travel team, Eastern Carolina Aquatics, coached by Claudio Battaglini.

“It definitely helped a lot,” Sikes said. “From the times that I swam and how I broke the record, I owe a lot of that to him. He put a whole program out for me, just for high school and states, and it was really great. My old coach didn’t like high school swimming as much as Claudio does. Claudio is all-in. He knows this is a big meet for everyone and wants me to do much better. We train differently. We did more sprint work and I got to rest a little bit more.”

Sikes now has four state championships for her career. As a freshman in 2021, she finished second in the 50 yard freestyle to Olivia Rhodes of Charlotte Catholic, who edged Sikes by .37 of a second for the state title.

“I reached the goals I set for myself,” Sikes said. “I may have over exceeded a little bit. I definitely wasn’t expecting to set the best time not only for my high school career, but also for my club career. I’m really happy with how I swam.”

After one of the greatest athletic performances in county history, it’s easy to forget that Sikes is a junior. She still has one more year remaining at Orange and finding motivation won’t be hard.

“Honestly, it’s not that hard,” Sikes said. “I love my team and I love my sport. It might seem like I have done everything I can do this year, but I’m just going to go back at it again next year to see how much better I can get.”

The Orange women finished fourth in the team standings. Carrboro came away with the team state championship with 196 points. Orange had 154 points.

In addition to their 200 yard freestyle relay championship, White, Rasinske, White and Sikes finished second in the 200 yard medley relay. They finished behind Central Cabarrus, who beat out Orange by .15-of-a-second.

In the 50 yard freestyle, Piper White finished 10th at 25.78. Piper also came in 10th in the 100 yard freestyle.

Orange’s Riley White came in fifth in the 100 yard butterfly at 59.55 seconds. She finished 7th in the 100 yard backstroke at 1:01.57. Abby Cronin, a sophomore from Central Cabarrus, won the state title at 58.28 seconds.

Cedar Ridge’s Sophia Stinnett finished 6th in the 500 yard freestyle at 5:26.76. She finished  11th in the 200 yard freestyle at 2:02.35.

Another Red Wolves sophomore, Quinn McCrimmon, finished 13th in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:24.19. Maya Lambert of Carrboro came away with the state championship at 2:04.16. Lambert also captured the state title in the 100 yard butterfly.

For the second year in a row, the Orange men’s swimming team has followed a Central Carolina Conference championship with a runner-up finish in the Central Regionals.

On Friday at the Greensboro AquatIc Center, the Panthers has two Silver Medals from Sophomore Luke Roman and two bronze medals from senior Evan Phillips to finish with 252 points. Carrboro claimed its second straight 3A Central Regional title with 376 points.

Roman, who captured three gold medals at the CCC Championships on January 25 at the Orange County Sportsplex, finished 2nd in the 200 yard freestyle. He set a new school record at 1:47.43. Carrboro junior Andrew Commins took the gold medal at 1:44.00. Orange’s Alex Andre finished fourth, also qualifying for the 3A State Championships, with a time of 1:51.54.

In the 500 yard freestyle, Roman had another school record at 4:52.23, good enough for second place. Commins took the gold medal at 4:41.69. Andre finished fourth, earning another spot in the state championships, at 5:05.20.

Roman also teamed with Phillips, Alexander Andre and Andrew Weeks to finished 2nd in the 200 yard medley relay. The quartet, with Roman swimming the anchor leg, finished at 1:46.96. They finished less than a second behind the Durham School of the Arts team of William Gray, Dreizin Ginsberg, Lucca Battaglini and Carson Sheehan, who finished at 1:46.07.

Roman, Phillips, Alexander and Weeks also qualified for the state championships in the 400 yard freestyle relay. They finished third with a time of 3:28.23. Carrrboro’s team of Commins, Matt Strada, Will Thompson and Sam McCallion finished first at 3:18.84.

Phillips, who also won three conference championships in Hillsborough, came in third in the 200 yard individual medley. He set a new personal best time of 2:07.25. William Sikes of Northwood captured the regional title at 2:01.23.

In the 100 yard breaststroke, Phillips finished third at 1:03.40, another personal best to advance to the state championships.

Orange senior Andrew Weeks qualified for the 100 yard backstroke. Weeks finished fourth after he touched the wall at 1:00.29. Carrrboro’s Will Thompson finished first at 50.23 seconds.

The State Championships will be held on Saturday at the Cary Aquatic Center.

Cedar Ridge’s junior Nikhil Agans, who won the CCC Championship in the 200 yard freestyle, earned the bronze medal in the same event at regionals. Agans touched the wall at 1:47.77, but a fraction of a second behind Roman. Agans also qualified for the state championships in the 100 yard free. Agans came in fourth at 49.92 seconds. Carrboro’s Thompson captured the regional title at 46.44 seconds.

Cedar Ridge finished 11th in the men’s team standings with 95 points.

The Panthers, who won the Central Carolina Conference championship for the second year in a row, had six male swimmers earn a spot on the podium at regionals. Last year there were five.

In 2022, Roman finished 2nd in the 200 yard freestyle.

This year, the Panthers were without diver Stanz Zitko, a diver who won four consecutive 3A/2A/1A Central Regional Championships during his stint at Orange. Zitko, who graduated last summer, finished 2nd in the State Championships last February.

Orange has only had one male swimmer win a state championship in school history. In 2018, Ben Scott won the 3A State title in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 45.95 seconds.

During an interview on New Year’s Day, Katie Belle Sikes said one of her remaining goals in her high school career was to break the state record in the 50-yard freestyle.

Just over a month later, she’s done it.

On Friday afternoon, Sikes finished with a time of 22.88 seconds, winning the 50 meter freestyle and beating the 3A state record of 22.92 seconds held by Nora McCullagh of Charlotte Catholic set in 2013. Sikes also automatically earned All-American status. The National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association lists 23.17 seconds as the automatic All-American benchmark. Last year, Sikes earned All-American consideration at the 3A State Championships.

Sikes came away with two individual championships at the 3A Central Regional Swimming Championships, held at the Greensboro AquatIc Center across from the Greensboro Coliseum. For the second straight year, Sikes won the 100 yard freestyle gold medal, finishing at 50.99 seconds. Asheboro’s Megan Becker came in second at 53.87 seconds. Piper White of Orange qualified for the 3A State Championships in the 100 by finishing sixth.

For the first time, Sikes won a regional championship in a relay event. She teamed with Piper White, Riley White and Ainsley Rasinske to finish 1st in the 200 yard freestyle relay at 1:44.50. It was a school record. Sikes, White, White and Rasinske also advanced to the state championships in the 200 yard medley relay with a second place finish. They recorded a time of 1:56.43, just .12-of-a-second behind the Durham School of the Arts’ team of Alexis Krzyzaniak, Claire Ramsey, Jordan Marley and Megan Healey.

Overall, Sikes has now won six regional championships at Orange. Sikes, a junior, won the 50 yard freestyle in her freshman year. Last year, she captured the 50 and 100 yard freestyle.

Sikes, the first female swimmer from Orange High to win a state championship, will look to repeat during the 3A State Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary on Saturday.

Sikes committed to swim at the University of Georgia in October. Last week, Sikes was named the Central Carolina Conference Swimmer of the Year after she won four gold medals at the CCC Championships at the Orange County Sportsplex. She now has five individual school records.

Sikes qualified for all eight individual events for regionals, but was only allowed to compete in two of them.

Overall, the Orange women’s squad finished fourth, its best-ever showing in the team standings. Orange came away with 202 points. Carrboro won the team regional championship with 338 points.

The Cedar Ridge women’s team finished 10th with 99 points.

Cedar Ridge sophomore Sophia Stinnett qualified for the state championships in the 200 yard freestyle and the 500 yard freestyle. Stinnett came in fourth at 2:02.84 in the 200. Northwood’s Abigail Emrich, who won the CCC Championship last week, came away with the 200 freestyle regional title at 1:56.58. In the 500 freestyle, Stinnett finished third at 5:26.76 seconds. Avery Shuping of Carrboro took the regional title.

Another Cedar Ridge sophomore, Quinn McCrimmon, earned a spot in the state championships in the 200 yard individual medley. McCrimmon finished third after she touched the wall at 2:23.61. Carrboro’s Maya Lambert took 1st place at 2:09.75.

Cedar Ridge’s 400 yard freestyle relay team also qualified for the State Championships. McCrimmon, Stinnett, Hala Zafar and Abbygale Pearce finished fourth at 4:11.57. Northwood’s Bianca Perez, Holly Thesing, Lauren Emrich and Abigail Emrich took the regional title at 3:53.12.

Orange’s Riley White qualified for the state championships in four events. In addition to the two relay races, she finished second in the 100 yard butterfly at 59.71 seconds. White had the lead after 50 yards, but Labmbert beat her for first place at 58.16 seconds.

In the 100 yard backstroke, White finished with the bronze medal at 1:01.65. Jordan Marley of the Durham School of the Arts finished first at 1:00.29.

The Orange women’s swimming relay team was a big reason why the Lady Panthers were able to win the Central Carolina Conference team championship. On Thursday night, the team of junior Katie Belle Sikes, freshman Ainsley Rasinske, junior Riley White and freshman Piper White teamed to win the gold medals in the 200 yard medley relay and the 200 yard freestyle relay. Sikes had another big night in the conference championships, winning four gold medals. She captured the 100 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke. Riley White won the gold medal in the 50 yard freestyle. She also took home the silver medal in the 100 yard butterfly. Piper White won the silver medal in the 200 yard freestyle. The Orange women’s team, which finished fourth last year in the CCC Championships, took first place. They became the fifth sports team from Orange this year to win a Central Carolina Conference title. Sikes, Rasinske, Piper White and Riley White will team together during the 3A Central Regional championships on Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

After they each won four gold medals in the 2022 Central Carolina Conference swimming championships, senior Evan Phillips and Sophomore Luke Roman had another successful night on Wednesday. During the 2023 CCC Swimming Championships, Roman won three gold medals and one silver medal. Roman captured first place in the 100 yard freestyle and the 500 yard freestyle. It was the second straight year that Roman won the 500 yard freestyle conference championship. Phillips repeated as champion of the 100 yard breaststroke. He also won the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.15 seconds. Phillips, Roman, Andrew Weeks and Alex Andre teamed to win the 200 yard medley relay. The performance by Roman and Phillips helped Orange repeat as the Central Carolina Conference champions. Roman and Phillips each have qualified for five events in the 3A Central Regionals, which will take place on Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Both Phillips and Roman qualified for the 3A State Championships in 2022 and will look to reach Cary once again next week. They will have to finish in the top six in their respective events in order to qualify for the state championships.

Timing. Familiarity. Technique. Awareness.

All of those ingredients are prerequisites for a good swimming relay team. Many of the competitors for the Orange swimming team have grown up together on various club teams, like the Hillsborough Aquatic Club and Eastern Carolina Aquatics.

Those relay teams are what paved the way for the Orange men’s and women’s swim teams to do something unprecedented in school history.

Orange swept the men’s and women’s titles at the Central Carolina Conference Championships at the Orange County Sportsplex on Wednesday night.

The Orange men successfully defended its championship from last year with 446 points. Eastern Alamance finished second at 248 points.

The Orange women won the CCC Championship with 339 points, barely beating out Cedar Ridge for second. The Red Wolves registered 332 points.

Combining the men’s and women’s competitions, Orange took the gold medal in four of the five relay races. The Orange women’s team of Katie Bells Sikes, Riley White, Piper White and Ainsley Rasinske won both the 200 yard medley relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay.

It was another night where Sikes walked out with more hardware than Ace Hardware. Sikes, a junior who committed to swim at the University of Georgia last October, came away with four gold medals. Individually, she earned two gold medals, setting school records in both events. She took the 100 freestyle at 52.04 seconds. In the 100 yard backstroke, Sikes won at 59.03 seconds, six seconds ahead of Eastern Alamance’s Braylee Carter.

Last year, Sikes won two gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the CCC Championships.

This year, the relay success led to the Orange women going from a 4th place finish in 2022 to a conference championship this year.

“It definitely takes a lot of practice,” Sikes said about relay teams. “The relay starts are super important. You definitely don’t want to get disqualified for jumping too early, but the faster you jump in the better. Since we all know each other, we all swam on a club team together, we’ve grown pretty accustomed to how we swim.”

In addition to Sikes’ success, junior Riley White won three gold medals. Along with the relay victories, White won the 50 yard freestyle at 25.54 seconds. Abi Robinson of Walter Williams finished second. It was White’s first individual gold medal. White also had a silver medal in the 100 yard butterfly. Abigail Emrich of Northwood claimed the gold with a time of 59.30 seconds.

Freshman Piper White earned a silver medal in the 200 yard freestyle. She finished at 2:07.29, behind only Cedar Ridge’s Sophia Stinnett.

Orange’s men’s relay team of Luke Roman, Evan Phillips, Alex Andre and Andrew Weeks claimed the gold medal in the 200 yard medley relay. In the 200 yard freestyle relay, Orange’s Greyson Brummer, Rylan Brummer, Ayden Twiddy and Nick Baczara finished first at 1:53.31.

Orange nearly had a clean sweep of the relay races. In the final event of the night, the 400 yard freestyle relay, the Panther team led the whole race until Northwood’s Wiley Sikes swam a great anchor leg to beat out the Panthers and win the gold. Sikes, Christian Smith Pumalpa, Morgan Turner and Jesse Sikes finished at 3:38.55. Orange came in at 3:39.61.

Roman and Phillips both had three gold medals and one silver medal.

Roman, a sophomore, repeated as champion of the 500 yard freestyle in a race where his nearest competitor was his teammate, Alex Andre. Roman came in at 4:54.40. This year, Roman also won the gold medal in the 100 yard freestyle, a race he didn’t even compete in during last year’s conference championship. Roman touched the wall at 53.97 seconds, beating out Tigue Hipps of Western Alamance.

As a freshman in 2022, Roman won three gold medals and a silver in the CCC Championships.

Phillips, in his final competitive meet inside the Orange County Sportsplex, captured gold in the 50 yard freestyle, finishing at 22.78 seconds. He held off Cedar Ridge junior Nikhil Agans for first place.

In the 100 yard breaststroke, Phillips earned the top spot at 1:05.07. Jesse Sikes of Northwood finished second.

Andre came away with three silver medals, along with the gold medal in the 200 relay. He came in second in the 500 yard freestyle (behind Roman) and the 200 yard freestyle.

Baczara earned one silver medal and one bronze medal. He finished second in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:22.30. He also finished third in the 100 yard butterfly at 1:02.09. Northwood’s Sikes captured the gold medal.

There’s a long checklist of goals for several Orange swimmers as the postseason meets get underway this week.

Junior Katie Belle Sikes managed to check another off in her unrivaled Orange career in the Lady Panthers’ final dual meet of the regular season at the Orange County Sportsplex last Thursday night. Sikes became the first Orange female swimmer to qualify for all eight individual events for the Central Regional championships. In a dual meet against Cedar Ridge and Walter Williams, Sikes won the 200 yard freestyle. She touched the wall at 1:56.81.

Sikes, who recently committed to swim at the University of Georgia, can swim in only two individual events in regionals, which will be held February 3 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Sikes has already claimed two regional championships and a state championship in the 50-yard freestyle in her career.

The Orange women defeated Cedar Ridge 99-66 and also defeated Walter Williams 110-24. The Cedar Ridge women defeated Walter Williams 110-26.

The men’s swimming meet was headlined by Cedar RIdge junior Nikhil Agans setting the school record in the 100 yard backstroke. Agains punched his ticket to Greensboro by winning the event at 59.25, over three seconds ahead of the previous record which had stood for three years. Earlier in the night, Agans qualified for regionals in the 100 yard freestyle, finishing first with a time of 51.17 seconds.

Orange senior Even Phillips qualified for regionals in two more events. Phillips won the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:05.07, finishing ahead of teammate Nick Baczara. Phillips also won the 200 yard individual medley at 2:11.18. Baczara also qualified for regionals in the individual medley with a time of 2:18.67, good enough for second place on the night.

Earlier this season, Phillips qualified for regionals in the 50 yard freestyle, the 200 yard freestyle, the 100 yard butterfly and the 100 yard backstroke.

Orange Sophomore Luke Roman finished the regular season with a victory in the 100 yard butterfly at 58.51 seconds. Roman also won the 50 yard freestyle with 24.28, just shy of automatically qualifying for regionals. He has already qualified for regionals in the 500 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, the 200 yard individual medley, the 100 yard butterfly, and the 200 yard freestyle.

Orange’s Alex Andre won the 200 yard freestyle at 1:57.51. Andre has qualified for regionals in four other events.

Andrew Weeks automatically qualified for the 100 yard backstroke at 1:02.24, finishing second to Agans. Weeks has also qualified for regionals in the 200 yard individual medley.

Orange’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Roman, Andre, Phillips and Weeks won at 1:40.11. They’re also set for regionals.

In the women’s meet, Cedar Ridge sophomore Quinn McCrimmon won the 500 yard freestyle at 5:54.00. Orange freshman Piper White finished second and also automatically qualified for regionals at 5:57.47.

Piper White also qualified for regionals in the 100 yard freestyle. White, a freshman, finished first at 58.68 seconds.

Orange junior Riley White earned a spot in regionals by winning the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:22.00. Cedar Ridge sophomore Sophia Stinnett finished second at 2:28.75. while McCrimmon finished 3rd. Both Stinnett and McCrimmon automatically qualified for regionals.

Riley White has qualified for regionals in the 100 yard butterfly, 100 yard freestyle, 500 yard freestyle and 100 yard backstroke. Piper White has qualified for the 200 yard freestyle, the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard butterfly, the 500 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke.

Stinnett, who was All-Central Carolina Conference last year as a freshman, captured the 50-yard freestyle at 26.64 seconds.

Orange’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Sikes, Riley White, Piper White, and Ainsley Rasinske won the 200 yard freestyle relay at 1:51.35. Cedar Ridge’s team of Stinnett, McCrimmon, Abbygale Pearce and Hala Zafar finished second and punched its ticket to Greensboro at 1:58.22.

The Central Carolina Swimming Championships will be held at the Orange County Sportsplex on Wednesday night at 6:30. Orange is the defending conference champions in men’s swimming.

After all this time, Katie Belle Sikes is still surprising herself.

In her second dual meet for the Orange swimming team last month, Sikes competed in the 500 yard freestyle, largely on a whim. She had never done it before in club swimming with the Hillsborough Aquatic Club or her new team, Eastern Carolina Aquatics.

It’s a marathon event compared to her forte, the 50-yard freestyle, where she won the 3A State Championship last year.

“I really like the 500,” Sikes said. “As a club swimmer, that’s not considered one of my prime events.”

Swimming against Cedar Ridge, she got out of the pool at the Orange County Sportsplex and saw a time of 5:19.81 on the digital scoreboard–a new school record.

“I think I’ll do the 500 one more time this year,” Sikes said.

When Sikes started her college recruitment, she wasn’t sure what schools would show interest. Her travel coach, Claudio Battaglini of ECA, told her she would hear from plenty of schools and encouraged her to see as much of the country as she could. She went into the process with her eyes wide open and unsure of what was ahead.

When the University of Georgia reached out, Sikes was pleasantly surprised.

It also caused a flashback of memories, or as much of one as a 16-year-old can have, anyway.

At the age of 12, Sikes competed at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium for a national competition. It’s still her favorite place to swim.

“I knew back then that my dream was to swim in college,” Sikes said.

Sikes wasn’t sure if she was a Southeastern Conference-caliber swimmer until the recruitment process told her otherwise. She discovered that not only was she someone who could compete at the highest level of college swimming, but she could do it at the very place where her dream of swimming at the next level started.

“Honestly, it took me a really long time,” Sikes said. “I definitely didn’t think I was at that level. I kind of had other people tell me I could do this. I was like ‘OK, I guess?’ I didn’t want to set it as my goal because what if I don’t get there? It was pretty shocking.”

As part of her recruiting trip, Sikes attended Georgia’s football game against Auburn at Sanford Stadium on October 8. Of course, she also returned to Gabrielsen.

Days later, Sikes formally committed to Georgia. She also had recruiting trips to the University of North Carolina, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Michigan.

Before deciding on Georgia, Sikes listened to Battaglini and saw the country. She stood inside massive Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor during the change of seasons as the leaves started to change colors.

“It was so cool,” Sikes said. “Honestly, I think it was just a little too cold for me. My parents said ‘I thought you liked the cold.’ I said ‘Not that level of cold.’ Hearing stories from swimmers about how they had to walk in the snow if they didn’t have a ride to the pool made me think I didn’t want to be around that.”

Sikes met one-on-one with Georgia head swimming coach Stefanie Williams-Moreno.

“I feel like there wasn’t a wrong decision at the end of the day,” Sikes said. “They were all such amazing experiences. Georgia was definitely the best option. There wasn’t a wrong answer, but Georgia was definitely the right one.”

Her decision didn’t just come down to swimming. Georgia has a college of veterinary medicine, which Sikes has in mind for a post-swimming career. Having grown up around dogs, her family fosters a pit bull mixed puppy named “Penny” that they got during the pandemic.

“I think she’s the favorite child,” Sikes said.

She also wanted a college town. Growing up next to Chapel Hill, she understood how special a college community can be.

“I wanted my own personal bubble,” Sikes said. “That’s what I like about Chapel Hill. In Athens, it feels like the college is the center of the town. I wasn’t interested in being in a big city where I’m secluded. Georgia is a good balance of all of that.”

Last February, Sikes became the first female swimmer in Orange High history to win a state championship when she captured the gold medal in the 50-yard freestyle in Cary. The only other swimmer to win a state championship in school history was Ben Scott, the 2018 3A 100-meter freestyle champion.

“Kristin and I are just so grateful to her current coaches here in North Carolina,” said Sikes’ father, Tommy. “We’re appreciative of her future coaches in Georgia for supporting her and allowing her to follow her dream of swimming in college. She has worked extremely hard, in and out of the water, and we are both so proud of her accomplishments.”

In her freshman year, Sikes was an immediate sensation amid quirky circumstances.

Starting her high school career in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sikes couldn’t compete with other swimmers across from her in opposite lanes like a standard dual meet. She was only able to attend a handful of practices. For much of the year, a  meet consisted of Sikes swimming in an empty pool competing only against a clock.

She won the 50-yard Central Regional championship, finished second in the state, and did all of it before she even had her first in-person class at Orange. As a freshman, she was named the Big 8 Conference Swimmer of the Year.

Sikes has plenty to accomplish before she packs the family SUV for Athens. This year, she has already qualified for six events in the Central Regionals, though she can only compete individually in two of them. She wants to set the state record in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle.

Perhaps what scariest for her competition is that Battaglini has encouraged Sikes to continue high school swimming, unlike previous travel coaches.

“High school swimming is a lot less stressful than club swimming,” Sikes said. “Claudio really wants me to do well in high school.”

Battaglini has gone as far to design a training plan for Sikes right up to the state championships next month. This season, in addition to the 500 yard freestyle, she has broken her own school record for the 50 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, the 200 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke.

With one more year ahead of her and a 4.4 grade-point average, there’s still new ground that Sikes is trying to break for herself.

Her story is far from complete, but Sikes can rest assured that all the times that Sikes trained at the Sportsplex six days a week has paid off. Not just with a state championship and whatever else may come in the future, but also in how her dream as a 12-year-old came true.