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Leto swimmer brings home the gold from state meet

Several other county swimmers and teams also did well. A number of cross country teams and runners qualified for the state .

By TERRY JONES
Published November 10, 2006

A Leto High School swimmer has become the school's first state champion in more than a decade. And 16 other swimmers from north Hillsborough high schools also made their mark in the state championships.

In addition, 41 cross country runners from the area have qualified to compete in their sport's state meet Saturday.

Here are the results:

Swimming

Leto senior Jorge Ospina extended the streak of five consecutive seasons for at least one north Hillsborough swimmer to bring home an individual state championship.

His gold medal performance in the 100 butterfly was the first title for the Leto Falcons in more than a decade.

Ospina is a Venezuelan national youth champion who came to Tampa on a three-year student visa to finish high school and attend college.

Ospina touched the wall in a time of 52.22 seconds for the state title in the Class 2A meet. He also finished eighth in the 200 freestyle with a time of one minute, 56.04 seconds. His two finishes helped Leto finish 23rd in team scoring with 31 points.

The state swimming championships were held late last week in Fort Lauderdale.

Freedom senior Matthew Szabunio turned in a sixth-place finish in the 50 freestyle and was 15th in the 100 freestyle.

He contributed to the Patriots' 12th-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay to help compile a team score of 25 for 27th place. Also on the relay were Ryan Irwin, Jeffrey Magol and Louis Rhodes.

In the Class 3A meet for boys, Sickles sophomore Conor Swanson recorded the best individual performance for north Hillsborough with a fourth-place finish in the 100 backstroke and fifth in the 200 individual medley.

Sophomore teammate Greggory Cooke finished 11th in the 50 freestyle and 13th in the 100 freestyle to show a good future for the Gryphons swimmers.

Cooke and Swanson joined forces with Michael Poteat and Kevin Frey to place 16th in the 400 freestyle relay. Jonathan Pitocco and Chris Findley replaced Cooke and Swanson to finish 16th in the 200 medley relay.

Wharton freshman Jordan Rees performed best for the Wildcats. He placed sixth in the 50 freestyle.

For the girls in Class 3A, the Sickles 200 freestyle relay finished 11th. On the relay were Carrie Foster, Megan Cook, Veronica Case and Britny Went.

Case also finished ninth in the individual 50 freestyle.

Gaither sophomore Kamry McNamara finished 15th in diving for Class 3A. She scored 369.15 points.

Cross country

Sickles boys won the Class 4A, Region 2 meet and Wharton's boys won the Class 3A, Region 2 meet, but no runners from any of the boys or girls teams in north Hillsborough won individual regional titles last Saturday.

From each of the regional meets, the top six teams and top 15 individuals qualified for the state meets. State meets for all classifications are Saturday in Dade City.

For girls in the 4A-2 meet, Gaither senior Katie Quick finished third with a time of 20 minutes, 3 seconds for the fastest time for north Hillsborough girls. She led the Cowboys to a fifth-place finish and a team berth in the state meet. Gaither scored 132.

Adding to the score were Emily Seymore, Casey Johnson, Nicolette Vance and Shannon Fisher. Jennifer Zambrano and Lisette Kerster ran as backups and also will run in the state meet.

Sickles scored 147 for the sixth state-team berth in 4A-2. Scoring for the Gryphons were Angela Hegge, Chelsea Wright, Nicia Mejia, Alexa Lampasona and Cynthia Plunkett.

Running as backups and also qualifying as part of the team were Emily Wehunt and Amanda Newby.

In the boys race, Ciprian Mejia led Sickles on the 3-mile course, finishing third in 16 minutes, 33 seconds. Adding to the Gryphons' championship score of 64 were Derek Wehunt, Daniel Wehunt, Kyle Kraft and Tracy Wein.

Running backup and qualifying with the team were Sean Jansen and Bryan Gollins.

Wharton's girls scored 95 points to finish third in the Class 3A, Region 2 meet. Kathia Skinner paced the Wildcats with a third-place finish in 20 minutes, 57 seconds.

Also scoring for Wharton were Erin Bailey, Lauren Galbraith, Alexandria Aquasvivos and Kristin Farrell. Brittany Hilliker qualified as a backup.

Javier Beuzeville finished second in the 3A-2 boy's race with a time of 17 minutes, 1 second. The Freedom senior qualified for the state meet as an individual.

Wharton's boys scored 56 points to win the 3A-2 meet. Baker Burchfield's third-place time of 17 minutes, 6 seconds paced the Wildcats.

Adding to the point collection for Wharton were Pedro Carela, David Vasquez, Corey Murray and Daniel Layton. John Grellner qualified as a backup.

Chamberlain's top five runners were all underclassmen. The Chiefs scored 172 points to earn the final team berth from 3A-2.

Scoring points were Mark Parrish, Max Levin, Charles Toledo, Chase Nelson and Bradley Nelson. Qualifying as backups were Michael Delfavero and Cameron Stark.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 10:41:23]