Dent leads Clover girls to 4th-place finish in 5A state swimming championships

Clover’s Emma Dent had a pair of top-five finishes Tuesday to lead her team to a fourth-place finish in the S.C. High School League’s Class 5A/Division 1 swimming championships in Columbia.

Also competing in state championships Tuersday were the 4A girls (won by Bishop England) and the 1A-2A-3A boys (won by Greer Middle College).

On Thursday, finals are set for the 5A/Division 2 boys, the 4A boys, and the 1A-2A-3A girls.

The state championships end Saturday with the boys’ 5A Division 1 and 2 meets.

Clover’s Dent, a junior, placed in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200 freestyle. She also was a part of two Blue Eagle relay teams that finished in the top five.

Wando took the 5A/Division 1 team title, with 354 points. J.L. Mann (331.5), Byrnes (247), Clover (235) and Spartanburg (222.5) rounded out the top five. Rock Hill finished 13th, with 128.5 points.

Dent was third in the 100-butterfly, with a time of 58.23 seconds. River Bluff’s Maecy Wells won that event with a time of 55.60. Dent also finished fifth in the 200 freestyle, in one minutes 56.48 seconds. The winner, J.L. Mann’s Lilly Gault Abdella had a time of 1:51.56.

Clover’s 200 freestyle relay team of Reagan Thomas, Dent, Jenna Peterman and Riley Stephens took four place, and the same swimmers teamed for fourth place in the 400 freestyle relay.

4A GIRLS

Bishop England (512.5 points), Gray Collegiate (411.5), A.C. Flora (258.5), Daniel (239) and Hilton Head Island (200) made up the top five teams.

York took 15th, with junior Ava Hease swimming second in the 200 individual medley and in the 100 breaststroke. Hease’s time in the 200 IM was 2:10.45, which was 2.41 seconds behind winner K.P. Coker of Gray Collegiate. Hease completed the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.81, which was .49 of a second behind Grace Boyce of Camden.

3A BOYS

Greer Middle College (508), Greenville St. Joseph (425), Academic Magnet (425), Christ Church Episcopal (305) and Powdersville (277) took the top five positions. Buford was 17th, with 14 points.