Stingrays finish 10th at state

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Andalusia Stingrays swimmer Mary Beth Baker competes in the 100-yard freestyle event on Saturday in Cullman. The Stingrays finished in 10th place in the small city division. | Andrew Garner/Star-News

CULLMAN — The Andalusia Stingrays finished in 10th place at the 2011 Alabama Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) state swimming championship Saturday in Cullman.

The Stingrays tallied 107 points in the small city category of the state swim meet.

“When you go to an ARPA event, the best in the state will be there ready to swim,” Stingrays 11-and-up coach Gavin Donaldson said. “It was no different this year. All age groups represented themselves well.

“This is a great group of swimmers that have worked hard the past three months for one opportunity to step up on the block and show what they got,” he said. “This is a classy team, and they showed it at the state meet.”

Andalusia’s swim team finished the 2011 state meet one spot higher than 2010’s 11th place finish.

Eight-and-under coach Andy Shaddix, who served as the 9-10s coach also at the state meet, said the whole team did well.

“I knew to expect a lot of faster times,” Shaddix said. “That was probably one of the faster pools we’ve swam in. Overall, as a coach, I couldn’t be any more proud of the whole team.”

The following are the swimmers that placed 15th or higher at the state swim meet:

• Aidan Vines — finished 13th place in 8-and-under 50-yard butterfly in 30.82 seconds;

• Alex Browning — finished 10th place in 8-and-under individual medley, and 11th place in 50-yard freestyle;

• Ava Bailey — finished 11th place in 8-and-under 25-yard freestyle;

• Emma Younce — finished 15th place in 9-and-10 50-yard backstroke, 13th place in 100-yard freestyle;

• Mary Beth Baker — 13th place in 11-and-12 50-yard backstroke, 15th place in 100-yard freestyle;

• Brandon Hudson — 13th place in 11-and-12 50-yard butterfly;

• Cali Fillmer — 12th place in 11-and-12 50-yard butterfly, 11th place in 50-yard backstroke;

• Judy Johnson — 13th place in 13-and-14 individual medley;

• Noah Rider — 10th place in 13-and-14 50-yard breaststroke;

• B.J. Donaldson — 9th place in 15-to-18 50-yard breaststroke, 10th place in 50-yard backstroke;

• Brandon Hudson, Luke Johnson, Josh Hudson and Ethan Gobea — 13th in 11-and-12 200-yard medley relay, and 14th in 200-yard freestyle relay.