Bainbridge High School Bearcats swimmers Zach McConnell, Alex Hughes and Lucas NeSmith tied for the high point championship at a Thursday, Dec.9 home tri-meet.

The meet was hosted by Coach Jimmy Harris’s Bearcats and Lady Cats at the Bainbridge-Decatur County YMCA pool.

Bearcat Jackson Jones was fourth in the high point competition.

Team victories were won by the Valdosta High School Wildcats and Lowndes County High School Vikettes.

The Bearcats, who were just two points out of first, and the Lowndes County Vikings were second and third in the boys division and the Valdosta Lady Wildcats and Bainbridge Lady Cats were second and third in the girls division.

Despite only having five team members present, the boys team won both of their relay events and three of them scored first-place finishes in two individual events. The girls team improved their times in each event from the last meet in Thomasville and are growing competitively, Harris said.

Coach Harris was very pleased with the performance of his teams in their home meet.

“We had a great turnout of Bainbridge High School parents, coaches and students, many of whom volunteered as timers and recorders,” Harris said. “All of them provided a tremendous boost to the swimmers. The YMCA was very gracious to allow us to use their excellent facility to hold the meet and Liv Warren and the YMCA staff have our heartfelt thanks.”

In the combined competition, Lowndes County was first, Valdosta was second and Bainbridge was third.

The Bearcats won the 200-meter medley relay in a time of 1:58.88.

Team members were Jackson Jones, who swam the back stroke, Zach McConnell, who swam the breast stroke, Lucas NeSmith, who swam the butterfly, and Alex Hughes, who swam the freestyle.

The Lady Cats 200-meter medley relay team was third in a time of 2:39.40. Team members were Sarah Bush, who swam the back stroke, Hillary Barfield, who swam the breast stroke, Laura Cerone, who swam the butterfly, and Tayor Harrison, who swam the freestyle.

Capturing individual first places for the Bearcats were McConnell with a 2:23.80 200-meter freestyle time, NeSmith, with a 2:23.85 200-meter individual medley time and Hughes with a 25.02 50-meter freestyle time.

Jones swam home second in the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 25.65.

In Lady Cats’ individual competition, Harrison was sixth in the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 33.10, Barfield was eighth in the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 33.80, Cerone was 10th in the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 34.99 and Bush was 17th in the 50-meter freestyle in a time of 38.10.

Other strong boys individual finishers included Hughes who won the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 58.00, NeSmith, who won the 100-meter breast stroke in a time of 1:06.00, McConnell, who won the 100-meter breast stroke in a time of 1:09.53 and Jones, who took third in the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 1:00.75.

Lady Cats individual competition featured Bush taking fourth in the 100-meter backstroke in a time of 1:40.70, Harrison taking fifth in the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 1:19.50 and Barfield taking seventh in the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:34.30.

Jones, McConnell, NeSmith and Hughes won the boys 200-meter freestyle relay in a time of 1:53.65 and Bush, Barfield, Cerone and Harrison took fourth in the girls 200-meter freestyle relay in a time of 2:24.56.

After the new year, the Bearcats and Lady Cats will compete in the Coffee County High School Trojans Invitational Meet on January 8, the Lee County High School Trojans Invitational Meet in Leesburg on January 22 and the Darton College Invitational Meet on January 26 in Albany.