Panther women’s swim and dive are champions of the Mountain Seven.
On Tuesday, Jan. 23, the conference’s five teams gathered at the Waynesville Recreation Center for their annual championship meet. With an M7 title from the Panther women and a second-place finish from the men, Franklin finished a close second in combined team scoring ahead of the 3A West Regionals in Charlotte Feb. 2-3.
Senior talisman Claire Ballard led the way for the Panther women, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 25.92 seconds and the 100-yard butterfly in 1:14.90. Her butterfly time was more than five seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
In addition to Ballard, three other Panther women earned event wins, including junior Zoi Walker in the 200 individual medley (2:40.00), senior Rylee Cassada in the 100 freestyle (1:02.45) and senior Logan Guynn in the marathon 500 freestyle (6:39.22). All three times were several seconds faster than their second-place finishers, with Guynn pacing the field by nearly a minute.
Guynn also placed second in the 200 freestyle (2:25.67), touching the wall just .07 seconds behind West Henderson’s Livia Price. Cassada placed second to Ballard in the 50 freestyle (26.46), while Walker placed second in the 100 breaststroke (1:21.05).
In addition to individual events, the Panther women also dominated the relays, winning the 200 medley in 2:10.69 (Walker, Ballard, Guynn and sophomore Alyse Remery), the 200 freestyle in 1:53.97 (Ballard, Cassada, freshman Kenna Keyworth and freshman Dalila Canzone) and the 400 freestyle in 4:28.04 (Keyworth, Guynn, Walker, Cassada). The 400 team paced the field by more than 35 seconds.
On the men’s side, Jonah Brant earned Franklin’s only individual win, taking home the 1-meter dive with a score of 344.85. The sophomore also placed second in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:15.95.
While Brant was the team’s only event winner, other Panther men impressed at the meet, led by second-place finishes in the 100 butterfly (1:05.74) and 50 freestyle (24.39) from senior Jose Gomez. Freshman Malik Walker placed second in the 500 freestyle (6:40.00) and third in the 200 freestyle (2:18.11).
In the freestyle relays, the Panther men ranked near the top, winning the 200 in 1:42.94 (Brant, Walker, Gomez and junior Gavin Rinker) and placing second in the 400 with a 3:58.28 (Rinker, Walker, Brant, Gomez).
In team scoring, the Panther women were the highest-scoring team on either side, scoring 573 points to second-place West’s 492. The team has now won conference titles in all three years of the Mountain Seven’s existence.
The Panther men finished second to a deep West team 461-355, snapping a two-year conference title streak.
In combined team scoring, West beat out Franklin narrowly for first 953-928. The Panthers will travel to Charlotte for the 3A West Regionals this Friday.