Pacing poolside after his girls' 400-freestyle relay team finished fourth in the last event of the Region 4-3A swimming finals Wednesday, St. Thomas Aquinas' Jim Parmenter did not look or sound like the coach of a first-place squad.

``I don't know, I think we've got enough points. But I'm just not sure,'' said Parmenter as he warily eyed the scoreboard at the Plantation Aquatic Complex, waiting for scorekeepers to tally the final results. At stake was a trip to the Florida State High School Athletic Association finals in Orlando next Thursday.

The Raiders' coach breathed a sigh of relief minutes later when he was passed a score sheet informing him that his Raiders had beaten Palmetto 338-287.

St. Thomas finished first overall despite not fielding a first-place swimmer. With a deep roster of strong swimmers occupying high point-value spots two through five in many races, the Raiders piled up enough points to take home the gold.

The Raiders continued a tradition by dominating the diving finals, sweeping the top three spots and four of the top five. Marina Nazario's 504.70 was St. Thomas' only gold medal of the day.

``We got a huge lift from our divers,'' Parmenter said. ``I don't know what it is about our girls, or who we have coming in next year, but we always seem to have a good [diving] unit.''

Nazario -- a junior -- will be joined at states by sophomore teammates Carly Alexander (456.50) and Amanda Habig (403.20).

Also sending swimmers to state will be third-place West Broward (227) and fourth-place Cypress Bay. West Broward's Tiffany Oliver continued her stellar senior season with wins in the 50 and 100 freestyle events and as the third leg of the 200 free relay team.

The St. Thomas boys finished second to Palmetto, but the breakout Broward star was Oliver's teammate Tyler Sell, who won the 200 free and placed second in the 500 free.

St. Thomas' Dylan Marsolek finished in the top three in three events.

RESULTS

• Boys -- Region 4-3A Finals -- Palmetto 426, St. Thomas Aquinas 265, Ferguson 179, Columbus 168: 200 medley relay: Palmetto 1:40.17, Ferguson 1:41.52, Reagan 1:42.33, Western 1:42.69; 50 free: Michael Saco (Pal) 20.52, Steven Lichtner (Pal) 21.57; Giovanni Perez (Fer) 22.27; Kyle Newcomb (Pal) 22.30; 200 free: Tyler Sell (WB) 1:43.78; Dylan Marsolek (STA) 1:44.23; Roger Powell (STA) 1:47.66; Carlo Morante (WB) 1:47.79; 200 IM: Juan Sequera (RR) 1:54.58, Douglas Ramos (Col) 1:57.48, Asher Garcia (Pal) 1:57.74, Austin Manganiello 1:59.66; 100 fly: Juan Sequera (RR) 52.09; Asher Garcia (Pal) 52.28; Kevin Barona (Pal) 53.01, Kristof Kertesz (SB) 53.58; 100 free: Michael Saco (Pal) 45.66; Steven Lichtner (Pal) 46.83, Cory Perez (Fer) 48.55, Nicolas Coard (Kro) 48.70; Diving: Francisco Bacerra (MB) 611.10, Osvel Molina (Gol) 581.25, John Toomey (NE) 452.85, Brian Blum (Pal) 387.45; Tyler Sell (WB) 4:38.03, Travis Lockie (Fla) 4:40.84, Dylan Marsolek (STA) 4:42.91, Roger Powell (STA) 4:52.30; 200 free relay: Palmetto 1:26.70, Columbus 1:31.82, Coral Gables 1:31.93, St. Thomas 1:32.01; 100 back: Nicolas Coard (Kro) 54.13, Austin Manganiello (Pal) 54.85, Cory Perez (Fer) 55.50, Kyle Newcomb (Pal) 55.85; 100 breast: Douglas Ramos (Col) 59.89, Jesus Nava Suarez (Fer) 1:00.71, Craig Dohmen (CR) 1:01.34, Thomas Aycart (Sun) 1:01.95; 400 free relay: Palmetto 3:13.32, Reagan, Columbus, Ferguson.

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