The Chamblee Lady Bulldogs claimed their fourth DCSD County Swim and Diving Championship in the past six seasons and fifth overall 239-219 over defending champion Lakeside. (Courtesy Photo)
The Chamblee Lady Bulldogs collected 13 top three finishes to hold off defending DeKalb County Champions Lakeside Vikings 239-219 to win the DCSD County Swimming and Diving Championships for the fourth time in six years.
The win combined with the Bulldogs victory on the boys’ side gave Chamblee its first ever sweep of the county swim meet.
Emily Myers got Chamblee off to a good start on Friday night by taking the one-meter diving gold with a score of 374.60 to 361.90 by Dunwoody’s Morgan Barrow. It was Myers second consecutive win in the event after finishing third in 2022 and qualified her for state.
Mena Alexandrova (5:23.24) swam to the 500-yard freestyle gold with teammate Hailey Hamilton (5:28.32) finishing second in a one-two finish for Chamblee. Both swimmers’ efforts were state qualifying times.
L.C. Smith grabbed the third individual gold for Chamblee with state qualifying time of 1:00.61 in her second consecutive win in the 100 backstroke and Chamblee got another one-two finish as Sonia Peters finished second in 1:02.82 to also qualify for state.
Chamblee also picked up the gold in the 200-yard medley relay as the team of L.C. Smith, Mina Alexandrova, Caroline Johnson and Mena Alexandrova swam a time of 1:55.40. It was Chamblee’s third consecutive gold in the event at the county championships.
Lakeside’s Katelyn McClintock won the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly to pick up her fourth and fifth county gold medal. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Lakeside grabbed 10 top three finishes including six gold medals as the Lady Vikings came close to a repeat in the championships. Katelyn McClintock and Sophia Hook doubled up on individual golds to lead the Lakeside charge.
Hook became a six-time county champion by sweeping the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races for the third consecutive season. She swam state qualifying times of 24.69 in the 50 and 54.96 in the 100.
McClintock won her fourth and fifth county gold medal as she racked up state qualifying times in the second consecutive sweep of the 200 freestyle (1:58.56) and the 100 butterfly (1:00.28. She also won the 100 backstroke in 2021.
Lyla Richards swam to gold in the 200 individual medley (2:15.00) while also qualifying for state to round out the individual golds for Lakeside. Richards had come in second in the event the past two years and third in 2021.
The Decatur Lady Bulldogs finished third pulling in one gold, three silver and three bronze medals along the way to 184 points. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Olivia McKenly, Laura Durbin, Greta Tell and Melanie Joyner swam to gold in the even with a state qualifying time of 1:44.84 to lead the scoring.
Dunwoody finished fourth for the second consecutive season with 142 points picking up 10 state qualifiers along with a silver and two bronze medals. Diver Morgan Barrow grabbed the silver in the one-meter diving event with a 261.90 total. Dunwoody’s Eden Dwoskin and Dana Elder tied for fifth in diving with a state qualifying count of 337.15.
The Tucker Lady Tigers finished fifth overall for the fourth consecutive season with its highest total of the string with 96 points. Hadleigh McNay led Tucker’s run to a pair of medals and four state qualifying times with a win in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.20) and teammate Kate Nawyn took bronze in 1:09.81.
See link below for the full results of the 2024 DCSD Swimming and Diving Championships: