SWIMMING
Bolles leaves swim competition in its wake
Defending state champion Jacksonville Bolles dominated the meet, winning the boys' and girls' meets at the Woodson Invitational.

BY EVAN DREXLER
Miami Herald Writer
The Jacksonville Bolles swimming team had a 6-point lead after the first event at Saturday's Woodson Invitational, and the Bulldogs' margin only grew wider after that.
The defending Class 1A state champions finished with a team score of 938, dominating the 20-team field on at Pine Crest.
``Honestly, I don't think we swam very well,'' Bolles coach Sergio Lopez said. ``I thought that we would have been a little bit faster.''
Pine Crest finished a distant second with 639.50 points and Plantation American Heritage placed third with 476.
The Bulldogs took the first two finals events of the day -- the girls and boys 200-yard medley relays -- and capped off their evening by taking the girls and boys 400-yard freestyle relays.
Bolles senior Tommy Gutman, towering over most of the competition at 6-5, proved to be the fastest person in the pool all day, swimming the 50-yard freestyle in 20.98 seconds.
``I was just visualizing before the race that I needed to go fast,'' Gutman said. ``I'm really here for the team, to be honest.''
The team success was certainly there for the Bulldogs, who won all six relays.
The most important part of coming to Fort Lauderdale for Bolles might have been getting experience against some of the best teams from South Florida.
``Around our area, we are the champions,'' Lopez said. ``In Jacksonville, we don't have much competition. I wish we did, but we don't.''
The Panthers had no swimmers win an individual event, but Pine Crest had 11 swimmers or relay teams place in the top three of the 24 events to take second place overall.
``I'm excited about it,'' Pine Crest coach Jay Fitzgerald said. ``Bolles is the state champion, and any time you're competitive with the people that are the state champion, you're closing in and doing well, it's exciting.''
Pine Crest also was able to get a look at Bolles twice, as the teams swam in a dual meet Friday afternoon. That extra experience against the Bulldogs only helps, Fitzgerald said.
``A lot of times we go into dual meets where the other teams aren't as strong or don't have as much depth,'' Fitzgerald said. ``It's not as competitive, so sometimes the athletes are just sort of swimming.''
Belen Jesuit's Carlos Omana was named the meet's most outstanding boy for his first-place finishes in the 200-yard IM and the 500-yard freestyle.
``Coming into the meet, I knew we were going to have a lot of competition from Bolles, obviously,'' Omana said. ``I told the guys, `We've got to step it up today. It's not one of those easy dual meets that we have.' ''
Belen Jesuit only competed on the boys' side, and the Wolverines' effort was good for second place.
Plantation American Heritage's Lauren Driscoll won the most outstanding award for girls after winning the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.
Also impressive on the girls' side was Gulliver's Clara Smiddy. The eighth-grader bested girls four years her senior in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard freestyle, taking first place in both events with times of 2:06.22 and 52.28.
``They were fun, but they weren't my best times,'' Smiddy said. ``It's fun to be faster than the older people.''
Team scores: 1. Bolles, 938; 2. Pine Crest, 693.5; 3. American Heritage Plantation, 476; 4. Boca Raton, 409; 5. Saint Andrew's School, 381.5; Girls' team scores: 1. Bolles, 479; 2. Pine Crest, 377.5; 3. Boca Raton, 260; 4. American Heritage Plantation, 232; 5. Saint Andrew's School, 220.5; Boys' team scores: 1. Bolles, 460; 2. Belen Jesuit, 287; 3. Pine Crest,262; 4. American Heritage Plantation, 244; 5. Saint Andrew's School,160; Individual results: girls' 200 Yard Medley Relay 1. Jacksonville Bolles, 1:48.33; 2. American Heritage Plantation, 1:50.60; 3. Boca Raton, 1:51.41; boys' 200 Yard Medley Relay 1. Bolles, 1:36.02; 2. American Heritage Plantation, 1:40.00; 3. Pine Crest, 1:41.80; girls 200 Yard Freestyle 1. Lauren Driscoll, American Heritage Plantation, 1:48.62; 2. Siena DeVenuto, Pine Crest, 1:53.88; 3. Alina Schulhofer, Pine Crest, 1:56.13; boys' 200 Yard Freestlye 1. Andy Vazques, Belen Jesuit, 1:42.19; 2. Thomas Veale, Pine Crest, 1:42.60; 3. Yousef Alaskari, American Heritage Plantation, 1:44.46; Girls 200 Yard IM 1. Clara Smiddy, Gulliver, 2:06.22; 2. Lauren Neidigh, Bolles, 2:11.81; 3. Courtney Randolph, American Heritage Plantation, 2:12.80; boys' 200 Yard IM 1. Carlos Omana, Belen Jesuit, 1:53.65; 2. Marco Aldabe Bomstad, Bolles, 1:57.06; 3. Les Moore, American Heritage Plantation, 1:57.81; girls' 50 Yard Freestyle 1. Harper Bruens, Boca Raton, 24.17; Melissa Cooper, American Heritage Plantation, 24.47; Dana Nessler, Bolles, 25.79; boys' 50 Yard Freestyle 1. Tommy Gutman, Bolles, 20.98; 2. Paul Murray, American Heritage Delray; 3. Daniel Spas, American Heritage Plantation, 21.83; girls' diving 1. Patti Kranz, Westminster Academy, 482.70; 2. Jamie Ginberg, Spanish River, 355.80; 3. Serena Benner, Cooper City, 350.80; boys' diving 1. Mikey Lewark, American Heritage Plantation, 488.80; 2. David Sager, University School, 411.05; 3. John Toomey, Northeast, 384.90; girls' 100 Yard Butterfly 1. Megan Fonteno, Bolles, 56.35; 2. Savannah Fernandez, Bolles, 59.25; Megan Moroney, Saint Andrew's School, 59.36; boys' 100 Yard Butterfly 1. Yousef Alaskari, American Heritage Plantation, 51.15; 2. Andy Vazques, Belen Jesuit, 51.70; 3. Timmy Romano, Bolles, 52.72; girls' 100 Yard Freestyle 1. Clara Smiddy, Gulliver, 52.28; 2. Harper Bruens, Boca Raton, 53.53; Gwen Vanden Noort, Bolles, 55.51; boys' 100 Yard Freestyle 1. Daniel Spas, American Heritage Plantation, 46.66; 2. Paul Murray, American Heritage Delray, 47.34; 3. Julian Ballestas, Belen Jesuit, 47.72; girls' 500 Yard Freestyle 1. Lauren Driscoll, American Heritage Plantation, 4:47.10; 2. Siena DeVenuto, Pine Crest, 4:54.40; 3. Danielle Smith, Boca Raton, 5:07.70; boys' 500 Yard Freestyle 1. Carlos Omana, Belen Jesuit, 4:32.84; 2. Thomas Veale, Pine Crest, 4:36.98; 3. Marco Aldabe Bomstad, Bolles;4:39.72; girls' 200 Yard Freestyle Relay 1. Bolles, 1:38.52; 2. Pine Crest, 1:41.43; 3. Westminster Academy, 1:42.43; boys' 200 Yard Freestyle Relay 1. Bolles, 1:28.35; 2. Belen Jesuit,1:29.03; 3. Pine Crest, 1:29.95; girls' 100 Yard Backstroke 1. Aubrey Peacock, Bolles, 56.71; 2. Danielle Smith, Boca Raton, 58.99; 3. Nikki Jacobs, Deerfield Beach, 59.29; boys' 100 Yard Backstroke 1. Ryan Murphy, Bolles, 52.10; 2. Colin Hamilton, Bolles, 54.01; 3. Alexander Bagshaw, Boca Raton, 54.24; girls' 100 Yard Breaststroke 1. Melissa Cooper, American Heritage Plantation, 1:05.67; 2. Irene Lopez Llorente, Bolles, 1:07.30; 3. Madelynn Camp, Saint Andrew's, 1:10.46; boys' 100 Yard Breaststroke 1. Sergio Lujan Rivera, Bolles, 1:00.10; 2. Diguan Pigot, Belen Jesuit, 1:00.80; 3. Michal Rokita, Pine Crest, 1:01.37; girls' 400 Yard Freestyle Relay 1. Bolles, 3:33.93; 2. Pine Crest, 3:34.62; 3. Boca Raton, 3:37.98; boys' 400 Yard Freestyle Relay 1. Bolles, 3:09.78; 2. Belen Jesuit,3:10.42; 3. Pine Crest, 3:20.20
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