MORGANTOWN — For Christian Hammer, there was no option to finish anything but first in the 100 butterfly during Thursday’s West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission State Swimming Championships at Peak Health Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
As the swimmers hit the 75-yard mark in the butterfly’s A finals, Hammer found himself trailing slightly.
He turned it on in the final 25 yards to pull off the victory — and now can call himself a West Virginia state swimming champion.
Hammer finished at 50.98, just ahead of George Washington High’s Will Hamrick (51.12) and Parkersburg South’s Quade Harris (51.42), who had narrowly edged out Hammer in the event at the Region I meet last week.
Morgantown High assistant swim coach J.C. Pettit said Hammer’s preparation throughout the season led him to that final 25-yard push.
“Chris is a person that balances his physical and mental preparation very well. He knows what he has to do mentally, and all season after our workouts, he’s been thinking exactly about these moments and what he wanted to accomplish. When he hit that last turn a touch behind, he knew exactly what he had to do — and he came through. It was a great finish,” Pettit said.
University High’s Nate Lindsay finished fifth in the 100 butterfly at 54.13.
Thursday marked the first of two days of swimming to determine individual and team champions in West Virginia. The preliminaries and finals of half the events took place Thursday, with the remainder set for Friday.
At the end of the first day, Bridgeport found itself atop the boys’ standings with 97 points, followed closely by George Washington at 93. Fairmont Senior sits in fourth with 52 points, University currently sits in 10th while Morgantown is 12th.
For the girls, Elkins – the defending state champions – continued its strong run Thursday, leading the girls’ competition with 96 points. Bridgeport is second at 65, followed by John Marshall at 60. Morgantown sits in seventh after the first day.
On the boys’ side, other strong finishes from local swimmers included a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle for Lindsay at 21.69.
Other strong performances for local swimmers on the girls’ side included a fourth-place finish for Morgantown High’s Ellie Perella in the 200 freestyle (2:01.56); sixth place for Monica Fisher from University High in the 200 free and a sixth-place finish for Morgantown’s Maya Nalcakan in the 200 Individual Medley.
The meet concludes Friday with champions being crowned in the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.
— Story by John McCabe
Girls’ basketball
Preston 55, Trinity 42
KINGWOOD — Cameryn Sypolt had 22 points, five rebounds and four steals and Preston finished the game on a 14-4 run to seal the victory.
It was truly a game of runs. After giving up an early 3-pointer, Preston’s defense held Trinity scoreless for the remainder of the first quarter, and the Knights took a 25-13 lead into halftime.
The third quarter belonged to the Warriors, who got as close as 35-33 late in the quarter, before Sypolt scored an and-one three-point play and teammate Bella Miller nailed a 3-pointer to head into the fourth with a 41-33 lead.
Trinity, which was led by Kaylin Kurilko’s 19 points, started the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run before the Knights finished the game off with one final run.
Camdyn Metheny added 12 points for the Knights and Miller added 10.
Trinity also saw Marlo Flecker and Sydney Deal score eight points.
