CANTON — The Eaton boys swim team made a trip to Canton to swim in the Division II state swim championships on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 25-26, and came away with the 8th best swimmer in the state.
For McCargish, in prelims, he went out in his first 50 at 22.80 – .16 seconds faster than his district time – and his last 50 he came in at 24.95, .65 faster than his district time for a 47.75. The time was good enough for a new Eaton High School team record and earned him a trip back to consolation finals.
In his 50 freestyle, he swam 21.65, which was .21 faster than his district time and earned him a trip back for the final heat in seventh place.
At finals, in the 100 freestyle, his first 50 was 22.80 before clocking his second 50 at 25.52 – which was .57 slower than his time in prelims. Overall, McCargish finished with a time of 48.42 and 11th place in the state.
In the 50 freestyle, he swam a time of 21.80 to place eighth in the state.
“State was an amazing experience. I had a great time competing and talking to some old friends and making new ones,” said McCargish. “It’s fun to swim and compete, but it’s the time spent with friends and teammates that makes the whole event memorable.”
Trey Gregory went into the tournament ranked 15th in the state in the 100 butterfly and Mason McCargish came in 10th in the 50 freestyle and 17th in the 100 freestyle.
In prelims, Gregory went out on his 50 fly in a time of 25.09 and was .7 seconds off his district time. In the last 50, he clocked a time of 28.54 that was.12 seconds off from his district swim.
He finished his race in 53.63 and he placed 20th in the event.
“State swimming is very thrilling and motivating and a lot of excitement with your teammates,” said Gregory.
Eaton finished 32nd overall in the competition.
“It is great to see these guys make it to this level with all the hard work they put into swimming and sacrificing a lot of their free time to go swim. It goes to show that when kids put a lot of hard work into what they are passionate about they get some great results. It was nice to see Mason make it back to podium for a second straight year. The last time an Eaton boys swimmer made it to the podium was 1972. Trey got to see what is it like at the state level in a individual event and I fully anticipate that he will return next year and be up on the podium in a couple of events. We also have several underclassmen that should make the trip to state next year with Trey,” said Eaton head swim coach Dave Montgomery.
