Lauren Crabtree
Eighth-grader Lauren Crabtree practices her freestyle. She will compete in the stroke at both the sectional and state meet. Photo by Jessa Pease.
It’s a strong year for Mountain Brook High swim team’s girls as they make their way to the sectional and then state meet.
The team already has 10 swimmers who have hit the state qualifying time to compete Dec. 12-13, but coach Brook Gibbons believes another eight will qualify at sectionals.
“We are going to have a lot of kids finish in the top 16 and a good amount finish in the top eight,” Gibbons said. “All three of our girls relays should finish in the top 16 if not the top eight.”
The team picked up some additional seventh-graders this year who Gibbons said are helping out the relays, and the older swimmers have been working hard to improve their times.
The top two girls are eighth-grader Lauren Crabtree and sophomore Hannah Elliott, and although they have already have already made state cuts, they will have to swim those times again at the sectional meet in order to qualify for state.
Crabtree will be swimming the 100 and 200-yard freestyle. Her 100-yard free time is 55.67, well below the state cut of 59.99, and her 200 free similarly sits at 2:01.99 versus the qualifying time of 2:09.29.
Distance swimming and the butterfly are Elliott’s events. She’ll be swimming the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard free. Her 100 fly time sits right under the state qualifying time of 1:05.29 at 1:04.88, and her 500 free sits at 5:41.53 against the 5:43.99 state cut.
Gibbons believes both Crabtree and Elliott will be in the top eight at the state meet.
Senior Charles Hoyt is Mountain Brook’s strongest male swimmer. He’s been swimming for a long time, and his brother swims for another team, which creates some sibling competition. Hoyt will be swimming the 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke.
Hoyt’s 100 free time of 53.86 sits right below the state cut of 54.19, and his 100 back time of 1:00.9 is about one second under the 59.79 state qualifying time. Gibbons believes he will be able to pull out the state time at the sectional meet.
“He’s a senior, so I think he really wants to finish his senior year out strong,” Gibbons said.
Senior Michael Clark also sits about a second away from a state cut in the 50-yard freestyle. His time is 25.56 versus the 24.79 state qualifying time.
“I see that we will definitely be one of the top eight schools at the state meet,” Gibbons said. “It always depends on who goes where and who does what, but we have a very strong team. I really feel that this is year they are going to start breaking up and us coming through.”
