Starkville’s swim team kept its streak of state championships alive for one more year.
For the third time in the last four years at least one Yellow Jacket left the MHSAA Swimming Championships with a title, and on Friday at the Tupelo Aquatic Center, sophomore Teddy Brain took home gold in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 23.94, just beating out Murrah’s Nick Sivak’s time of 24.12. Head coach Melissa Hubley said it was an exciting moment that fired up the rest of the team.
“I think it was exhilarating for everyone,” she said. “Of course we all knew he had a good chance of winning, but as you’re watching it you never know what the other swimmers are going to do. We all stood along the sides and at the end of his lane and cheered when he got his hand on the wall first. We just erupted and (were) cheering. Everyone was excited. It’s a good moment for the whole team. It lifts everybody up, and I think it really inspires the other swimmers to want to strive for big goals like that.”
In total, the Yellow Jackets landed seven top-10 finishes and the boys team finished in sixth place overall while the girls team placed 13th.
Along with his gold medal, Brain took home bronze in the 100-yard freestyle, and the team of Baraka Nyatta, Justin Chung, Timur Gabitov and Brain finished eighth in the 200-yard medley relay and fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Gabitov, a freshman, captured fourth place in the 100-yard butterfly.
“Even to make finals, that top eight, is a big deal,” Hubley said of Gabitov. “So he’s someone to look for in the future for sure.”
Effia Wu, an eighth-grader, finished in sixth place in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“Just a lot of talent and a lot of hard work,” Hubley said of Wu. “She’s young, she works hard and she’ll continue to improve.”
Britten Whittington, a freshman, posted an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly and fell just shy of a finals appearance in the 500-yard freestyle.
“Those are two hard events that are close together and she really just rose to the occasion to do both of them,” Hubley said. “She’s one to watch as well.”
Aubrey Dunning is the team’s lone senior and finished his Starkville swimming career by participating in the 4×50-yard freestyle relay.
“It was nice to be able to see him finish his swimming career,” Hubley said. “He’s been swimming here since he was in seventh grade for the team and was a great captain throughout the season, so that was a special moment for him and for the team.”
While the season may be over, there is still one more opportunity for a few Starkville swimmers to hit the pool. Brain, Gabitov, Wu and Whittington all were selected to swim in the All-Star Swim Meet on Nov. 15 at the Tupelo Aquatic Center. All four of the all-stars will return to the pool for Starkville next season as they look to build upon an already competitive, yet young, career.
“Overall, I think that my biggest takeaway is that we’re a young team and I think just having the kind of success that we’re having is very encouraging for everybody involved because we know that everyone is only going to get faster and get better, and we are excited about that,” Hubley said.
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