Riptides shine at Age-group Sectionals
Myrtle Beach Riptides swimming team shines at Championship
The 2010 Southern Zone Eastern Section Age-group Championship meet was hosted March 11-15 at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Charlotte, NC. This year’s edition of the event was the largest in it’s history with more than 900 swimmers, ages 14-under, participating. Swimmers from 81 teams came from the states of AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC and TN.
For the Riptides, Chad Bateson, Eddie Bateson and Julia Campbell had their best swims of the season. Although the Riptides competed in just six events, they tallied 5 new team records and 10 personal best times, including legal split times.
Chad Bateson, 11-12, competed in the 1000 free on Thursday. His time of 11:36.06 was not only a best time and team record, but was also his first USA-Swimming “AAA”-time. Bateson took the event out very fast, swimming to personal bests and team records at the 200-yard split (2:13) and again at the 500-yard split (5:45, new Sectional qualifying time).
On Sunday, Bateson competed in the 1650-yard freestyle, slashing an impressive 44 seconds from his previous best time to go 19:33.18 (team record) and earn another USA-Swimming “AAA”-time. Bateson placed 19th overall in the event. Having two “AAA”-times, Bateson has also qualified as an SC Swimming All-State swimmer, his first time.
Eddie Bateson, 11-12, swam the 400-yard Individual Medley to a best time and team record of 5:18.21. Bateson split a best time in the 100-butterfly (1:17) which was the first of four legs of the race. Later, Bateson swam the 1000-freestyle to a 11:52.69, which was also a best time. Bateson improved his 400-IM and 1000-free by over 1 second and nearly 15 seconds, respectively.
Bateson’s last event of the season was the 1650-freestyle, where he cut another 7 seconds from his previous best to swim a 20:17.53.
Julia Campbell, 13-14, competed in just the 200-yard butterfly. Campbell, who has struggled this season, was the final swimmer from the Riptides to qualify to the meet and did not waste any time swimming to a personal best of 2:19.27.
Head coach of the Riptides, James Smith, was very proud of how the swimmers did at the meet.
“The kids were ready! Its impressive to go to a meet and have 6 swims account for 10 personal best times, but Chad, Eddie and Julia stepped up and really shined at their final meet of the season.
“The State Championships in February was for the Team. We expected the kids to score points and swim fast, but the Age-group Sectional meet was for the swimmers. This meet was for them to go out and finish their season on the highest note possible and they did just that,” continued Smith.
