Three athletes from Southern Eagle Aquatics (SEGA) competed in the semi-annual Georgia Swimming Age Group State Championships and Junior Olympic swim meet, held Feb. 25-27 at Georgia Tech. Almost 900 swimmers from across the state were in attendance.
SEGA finished 25th on the men’s side with just two scoring athletes.
Kenny Griffith (12, Brooklet) competed in nine events, placing 6th in the 200 butterfly (2:25.44), 10th in the 50 butterfly (29.61), and 16th in the 100 butterfly (1:06.67), in addition to competing in the 50, 100, 200 and 500 freestyles, and both the 200 and 400 individual medleys in his fourth appearance in this meet.
Cade Tysinger (14, Statesboro) placed 18th in the 200 butterfly (2:11.80) in his fourt and final AG State meet prior to aging up to the senior level. Tysinger also earned personal best times in the 100 freestyle (53.80) and 100 butterfly (59.00).
Jada Fedrick (11, Cobbtown) competed in the Junior Olympic meet, held concurrently during the AG State meet, for athletes within 5% of the qualifying times. Fedrick finished the meet with best times in four of the five events she swam — the 50 free (29.93), 50 back (40.21), 100 individual medley (1:20.71), and 200 free (2:41.44).
Gweneth Son (9, Statesboro) and Oscar Thorpe (14, Statesboro) qualified for the Age Group State championship and Junior Olympic meets respectively, and both remain qualified for the long course version coming up this July.
Head Coach Beau Caldwell said of this year’s qualifiers, “It’s exciting to have a record number of qualifiers for a championship meet, and continue to do so each season. It’s been a saying around our team for a while that more people means more fun, and it’s starting to show in practice and meets. Fun is translating to higher achieving performance across the board through athletes supporting athletes, and each athlete helps make our team great!
“I couldn’t be more happy for Cade, Kenny, and Jada. It’s a challenging meet physically and mentally. Each of them showed resilience and determination to push through the challenges presented."
The meet is sponsored by Georgia Swimming, a local division of USA Swimming, the governing body for competitive swimming in the US Olympic Movement. The semi-annual meet is held once in February, contested in a 25-yard pool, and once in July, contested in a 50-meter pool.
SEGA is a registered team within USA Swimming and US Masters Swimming, offering competitive swimming opportunities for youth and adults. Practices are held at Splash in the Boro pool and offered nearly 11 months out of the year. For interest or inquiries, email swimsega@gmail.com.
