In their final home meet of the season, the AquaDogs cruised to first place finishes in both the Boys and Girls Divisions.  The girls racked up 682 points to dominate the field, while the boys earned 382 points to finish more than 160 points ahead of 2nd place Saraland. 

Last week, the Bulldogs participated in the highly competitive Gulf Coast Classic at Bishop State.  With teams from throughout the southeast competing, the girls finished in 3rd place while the boys were 6th.  Here's a full recap of both events from Coach Lindsey Seaborg:


Let me begin by congratulating our new state qualifiers! This weekend, both Mae Elliott and Emerson Barnett set 11 dive personal bests and were our very first individual state qualifiers! Our diving is always one of our biggest strengths, and I am so proud of all of our divers. 

Continuing on the state qualification train from this weekend, dual sport football player and swimmer Wrenn Landers made the trip from his football win all the way in Elberta, got home around midnight, and still made it in time to warm up at 7:00AM on Saturday! Because Wrenn made that sacrifice, our boys team of Ethan DeGraeve, Walker Busbee, Lucas DeGraeve, and Wrenn achieved the rest of their state relay qualification times! Our boys have qualified for state in all three relays... an amazing feat! To cap off our state qualification news, Walker Busbee, now back full time in the water after spending the first part of the season acting in the school play, became our FIRST swimmer to qualify individually for the state meet today! His blisteringly fast 50 free was so much fun today, especially after he barely missed the cut this weekend (by only 0.11 seconds).


Our state qualifiers aren't the only swimmers who excelled this week! Chloe Barko dropped time in both her 50 free and 100 fly this week! Jonah Williams, who is always one of our hardest workers, wasn't able to make it to the meet this weekend as he needed to perform at the football game on Friday. He more than made up for it today by dropping time in both his events! Charlotte Delmage also came through with a big day today, dropping time in both her events today as well! Frances Busbee dropped half a second in her 50 free and a full 2 seconds in her 100 free!  Lane Nichols had a great swim today in her 100 free, dropping almost a full second! Coleman Oswalt must be recovering from his pneumonia, because he went a best time in his 50 free today! Elizabeth Finney, another of our hardest workers, dropped almost 2 seconds in her 50 free today! However, our biggest drop of the week belonged to no other than Jack Sconyers who dropped an enormous 8 seconds in his 100 free! Eleanor Roberds also had a big week... She not only made it back to finals in the 100 free this weekend, but she also DOMINATED the 200 IM today... winning the event by a whole length of the pool. Not bad for a 7th grader! There are so many swimmers who dropped time and performed their best in their events this week--I am so proud of each of you.

Event Champions:
Mae Elliot, Eleanor Roberds, Arianna Havens, Kathryn Busbee, Ethan DeGraeve, Frances Busbee, Lucas DeGraeve, Nancy Skidmore, and Coleman Oswalt


Top Three Finishers:
Mae Elliot, Emerson Barnett, Bebe Childers, Lane Nichols, Eleanor Roberds, Arianna Havens, Frances Busbee, Chloe Barko, Walker Busbee, Kathryn Busbee, Ethan DeGraeve, Lucas DeGraeve, Nancy Skidmore, Baileigh Whiddon, Emma Shepler, Coleman Oswalt, and Jack Sconyers


Individual Finalists at the Gulf Coast Classic:
Mae Elliot: diving (1st)
Emerson Barnett: diving (3rd)
Emma Shepler: 200 IM (6th)
Arianna Havens: 50 free (7th), 100 back (4th)
Frances Busbee: 50 free (8th), 100 free (8th)
Bebe Childers: 50 free (11th), 100 free (9th)
Walker Busbee: 50 free (2nd)
Lucas DeGraeve: 50 free (7th), 100 back (7th)
Kathryn Busbee: 100 fly (3rd), 100 back (10th)
Chloe Barko: 100 fly (5th), Chloe Barko (10th)
Ethan DeGraeve: 100 fly (9th), 100 free (12th)
Eleanor Roberds: 100 free (11th)
Nancy Skidmore: 100 breast (5th)

UPCOMING MEET
Our final meet of the regular season is the District 1 Championships. If you have a tech suit, this would be the time to wear it! 
What?: District 1 Championships
Where?: Bishop State Community College
When?: 

• Diving: 
  • Warm-ups: 7:45 AM - 8:55 AM
  • Competition: 9:00 AM
• Swimming:
  • Warm-ups: 10:10 AM - 11:20 AM
  • Competition: 11:30 AM