Braddock’s boys’ swim team finishes state runner-up for second consecutive season

Braddock High sat in third place of the Class 4A State Swimming and Diving championships with just a few events to go. The school jumped Windermere in the second-to-last boys event, putting them in second place going into the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The Bulldogs flew through the relay and placed first in the event, but the gap between them and the first place Sarasota Sailors was too much to overcome.

Braddock finished as the second-best team in the meet Friday at the FAST pool in Ocala, Florida. Braddock finished with 269 points — just 20 points behind Sarasota’s championship-winning 289 points.

“We have a tremendous caliber of athlete on this team,” Braddock assistant principal Ron Ferguson said. “We have three seniors that are graduating, but the team is young. We’re going to be able to come back stronger than ever — good things to come for G. Holmes Braddock and the swim program.”

The school hoped for gold after finishing in second last year, but a disqualification in the 200-yard medley relay preliminary round set the team back 40 points. The head coach Katia Garcia and the team didn’t agree with the call, but Garcia and Ferguson thought the team bounced back well after the early setback.

“We were able to bring it back against Sarasota, within 30 points of them,” Ferguson said. “Without that DQ, pretty sure we would have brought Miami-Dade County a state championship home. Despite that, we’ve got to focus on the positives.”

On top of the 400-yard freestyle relay, Braddock earned a handful of individual titles.

Anthony Pineiro finished first in the 100-yard butterfly with a 48.43-second time and the 100-yard backstroke with a 48.50-second finish. Pineiro jumped to first from fifth and sixth in those events.

“Every meet just keeps showing me that I’m getting better and better by the year,” Pineiro said. “If I keep trying and keep working hard, things are just going to get better and better. By the time senior year comes, it’s going to be great.”

Junior George Gonzalez took the state title in the 100-yard freestyle with a 44.36-second swim and was the runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle, as he finished in 1:38.04 minutes. The team placed a number of swimmers on the podium, including a 1-2-3 sweep of the 100-yard backstroke by Pineiro, Dylan Ferguson and Tomas Fermin.

The Bulldogs were outnumbered by Sailors, but Braddock doesn’t think its time is done among the top teams in the state.

“They better watch out,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going to come for first next year, that’s for sure.”

The county was also well represented in the swimming portion by JP Taravella swimmers Tawannah McLemore — who finished 0.05 seconds behind first in the girls 50-yard freestyle — and Miles Green — who finished in third in the boys 50-yard freestyle.

Outside of the strong swimming performances, Fort Lauderdale’s diving put Miami-Dade on top of the state. Sophomore James Boardman took home the one-meter diving title with a 581.50-point score — 40 points higher than second place.

Boardman also won the state diving title last year, and he said it was great to repeat his victory.

“It felt great,” Boardman said. “It’s always a great end coming here and diving for state, but winning is just a whole different aspect.”

CLASS 3A

St. Thomas Aquinas’ senior Julianne McCranie and Miramar Everglades senior Javier Colmenares each won individual state championships.

McCranie won the 100 butterfly in 54.68 seconds and finished as state runner-up in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.54. McCranie also helped Aquinas’ 200 medley relay team place second with a time of 1:46.03. The Raiders finished fourth overall as a team.

On the boys’ side, Colmenares won the 100 breaststroke state championship after swimming a time of 55.37 seconds. He also finished third in the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.58.

Aquinas’ Gabriel Tortola finished state runner-up in the 200 freestyle in 1:38.92 and helped the Raiders’ boys place fifth overall. Tortola also placed fifth in the 100 freestyle in 46.02 seconds.

This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 11:47 PM.