FAYETTEVILLE — Lumberton’s Jack Stephenson won the 50-yard freestyle title and the Pirates found the medal stand four other times en route to a third-place finish in the United-8 Conference boys swimming championships held Wednesday at Fayetteville State University.
Purnell Swett’s boys finished fourth, earning 53 points based on their finishes in each event. Lumberton’s 245 points came in behind first-place Jack Britt with 407 and second-place Cape Fear with 328.
In the girls team standings, Purnell Swett was fifth with 61 points and Lumberton sixth with 34. Cape Fear beat runner-up Jack Britt for the girls team title.
Stephenson swam the 50-yard freestyle in 24.73 seconds, beating Jack Britt’s Aiden Marshall by 0.16 seconds to win gold. Purnell Swett’s Seth Woods took fifth in the event at 27.46 and Lumberton’s Carson Stephenson was sixth at 27.64; Lumberton’s Ethan Stevens at 28.90, Aiden Mulroy at 29.06, Dixon Davis at 29.24 and Josiah Schultz at 36.38 each competed in the preliminaries.
Jack Stephenson also finished third in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.39. Woods took fifth for the Rams in 1:03.47 and Dixon Davis was sixth for the Pirates at 1:07.03.
Three Lumberton boys relay teams medaled in the event. The 200-yard freestyle relay of Stevens, Carson Stephenson, Logan Beruman and Jack Stephenson finished second in 1:51.12, over 11 seconds behind winner Jack Britt. Lumberton’s B team of Nate King, Miguel Poingue, Deacon McLean and Alex Emanuel was fifth in 2:10.97.
The Pirates’ 400-yard freestyle relay team of Isaac Pait, Carson Stephenson, Beruman and Stephens was second in 4:26.26, nearly 22 seconds behind Jack Britt. Lumberton’s B team of Davis, Ian Hall, Poingue and Emanuel finished the event in 5:03.99 to finish sixth.
Lumberton’s 200-yard medley relay officially finished third in the 200-yard medley relay, with Mulroy, Beruman, Jack Stephenson and Carson Stephenson finishing in 2:10.82. The team was the fourth to finish, but Jack Britt’s A and B teams both finished ahead of the Pirates and both could not count towards placement purposes.
Other local boys finishers included: Pait was fourth in the 500-yard freestyle for the Pirates in 7:31.94 and Purnell Swett’s Ethan Scott was fifth in 8:01.69; Lumberton’s Mulroy took fourth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:23.56; Ian Hall swam the event but was disqualified; Pait was fifth in 2:31.93 and Lumberton teammate Nate King seventh in 2:45.03 in the 200-yard freestyle; Scott took eighth for the Rams at 2:47.04; King placed fifth for the Pirates in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:42.76, with teammate Deacon McLean sixth in 1:44.05.
In the girls event, two fifth-place runs accounted for the highest local finishers. Purnell Swett’s Dahlia Locklear took fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:49.17, while the Rams’ Torrien Jones was fifth in the 100-yard butterfly in 2:14.47.
Seven local swimmers competed in the 50-yard freestyle, led by Lumberton’s Alannah Revels in seventh at 35.03. Locklear was eighth for the Rams in 36.42, with other Purnell Swett participants in the event including Cornelia Oxendine in 10th at 36.73, Torrien Jones 11th at 38.78, Sholona Maynor 12th at 42.09 and Kylah Jones 16th at 54.81. Lumberton’s Macy Jones took 14th in 44.34.
Revels also finished seventh for the Pirates to lead the pack locally in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:21.65. The Rams’ Oxendine was ninth in 1:35.42 and Maynor 11th in 1:40.70, while Lumberton’s Macy Jones was 12th in 1:51.60.
Regional qualifiers will be announced after the completion of Saturday’s competition around the state, with the regional meet set for Feb. 2 at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. Lumberton coach Will Britt anticipates a handful of Pirates will qualify.
