On Friday and Saturday, the 2019-2020 swim season culminated with the biggest meet of the year: The Cobb County Championship Meet. All teams from Cobb County gathered at Mountain View Aquatic Center, looking to break records and bring home some new hardware. However, each team knew that there could only be one champion, and every swimmer was ready to give it their all.

The meet began Friday afternoon in the preliminary round, with only the top 20 swimmers from each event qualifying for finals on Saturday night. Coaches, parents, and teammates all watched in anticipation, cheering their loudest, hoping their swimmers would make county finals. Eventually, the meet concluded and the stage was set for the following day.

Again, teams packed into the aquatic center for one final time on Saturday night, ready for their final races in Cobb County and hopeful to be crowned champions at the end of the night. Swimmers gave one final cheer as the last bit of spectators poured in ahead of the 6:00 start.

The meet would feature 24 events, each having 2 heats: a B-Final and an A-Final. The A-Final competitors would all be announced as they walked to their respective block, as the walkout song, chosen by the event’s top seed, played over the speakers. The meet began, and the aquatic center would be filled with the sound of cheering and splashing for hours to come.

The first two races would be a sign of things to come, as the 200 medley concluded with finishes down to the wire. In the Boy’s 200-medley relay, Kennesaw Mountain would narrowly edge out Pope by .29 seconds. As for the girl’s 200-medley relay, Lassiter would win by 3 seconds over Campbell.

The meet continued, very intense throughout. It featured a multitude of close races, all being extremely important to the final overall standings. One of the closest races were the boys 50 freestyle, where Jackson Kutsche (North Cobb) narrowly out-touched Brett Reason (Kennesaw Mountain) by .05 seconds! Gabe Lacasella (Pope) would finish 3rd, only .02 behind Brett Reason. Another close and important race was the girls 100-yard freestyle, where Jasmin Hoffman (Walton) would take gold, as Frances Carson (Lassiter) and Camryn Lewis (Harrison) would finish right behind her.

County Records were even broken, as in the boys 400 yard freestyle relay, the top-seeded Kennesaw Mountain team of Ben McClain, Brett Reason, Connor Haigh, and Zach Lowe would set a new county record with an astonishing time of 3:07.91!

The meet concluded following the girls 400-yard medley relay, and teams anxiously awaited to hear the scores. Coaches congratulated their swimmers and expressed how proud they were. The teams were ready, and the trophies awaited their new home.

In 3rd place for the girls, the Harrison Hoyas. In 2nd, the Lassiter Trojans. And in 1st place, the Walton Raiders. Each team celebrated accordingly as they quickly ran over to receive their newest prized possession. As for boys, in 3rd place was the Pope Greyhounds. In 2nd, the Kennesaw Mountain Mustangs. And in 1st place, winning girls, guys, and overall champion, was the Walton Raiders!

Congratulations to each Cobb County swimmer and program for their wonderful accomplishments this season! Teams will now prepare to ready their state simmers, in search of a new accomplishment: Winning State Championships. State Diving Championships will take place on February 6th, followed by swim preliminaries and finals on the 7th and 8th.