Graham swim team competes at VHSL state meet in Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. — Swimmers from more than thirty 1A and 2A schools converged at the Aquatic Center in Richmond, Va. on February 14th for the state swim and dive competition.

Preliminaries were held in the morning with the top swimmers in each event advancing to the evening session.

Just five short years ago, Graham Swim was a one person team and Kristen Benson competed by herself at the state level. This year, the team has grown to 19 members, nine of whom represented the school at the state competition.

Those competing in the preliminary races in the morning included Abby Shoemaker and Ashley Cline in the 50 freestyle, Abby Shoemaker in the 100 freestyle, Katie Benson in the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke and Conor Douthat in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.

Two relay teams qualified for the morning sessions. Emma Seay, Malia Sloan, Emma Donchetz and Lexi Taylor-Willis swam in the 200 freestyle relay, beating their previous time by 3 seconds. Abby Shoemaker, Katie Benson, Lindsey Billips and Ashley Cline swam in the 4x100 freestyle relay with a record time by 2 seconds.

In the evening competition, Conor Douthat placed 10th in the 100 breaststroke and 15th in the 100 freestyle, improving his times by two seconds in each race from the previous 2018 season. Katie Benson placed 12th in the 100 breaststroke, up two places from 14th in 2018. The relay team of Abby Shoemaker, Katie Benson, Lindsey Billips and Ashley Cline cut four more seconds off of their race in the night session, ending up 14th in the state in the 4x100.

The team is coached by Kim Benson, Dee Shoemaker and Chris Benson. Any students at Graham High School who are experienced or interested in the sport of swimming should inquire at the high school office for more information on this growing program.