The Orange High swimming record book now looks really repetitive.
On the women’s side, it just says “Katie Belle Sikes’ over and over. Going into her Senior Night meet at the Orange County Sportsplex on Thursday night, the only school record that Sikes hadn’t broken was the 100 yard breaststroke.
Naturally, that one was the next to fall.
Racing in the pool where she has trained nearly every day and honed the skills that made her the most successful swimmer in Orange High history, Sikes set a new record of 1:06.53 in the breaststroke. Sikes now holds the school record in all eight individual events. Earlier this month, she set a new mark in the 100 yard butterfly.
Sikes also won the 200 yard freestyle (1:59.62) on Thursday.
In addition, it was also Senior Night for Cedar Ridge’s Nikhil Agans and Catherine Latham. Agans, who finished fifth in the 100 yard freestyle in the 3A State Championships last February, won the 100 on Senior Night at 51.61 seconds. His teammate, freshman Chris Seawell, came in second at 54:32. Both automatically qualified for the 3A Central Regional Championships.
Agans also qualified for regionals by winning the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:09.37. Orange’s Benjamin Sirgany came in third at 1:21.21.
Latham teamed with Sophia Stinnett, Hala Zafar and Quinn McCrimmon to finish second in the women’s 200 yard medley relay at 2:15.69, earning consideration for regionals.
In a quad meet that also included Western Alamance and Walter Williams, the Orange men’s and women’s teams each earned three head-to-head wins to close the Central Conference season undefeated. The Orange men defeated Williams 124-19, defeated Cedar Ridge 103-51 and handled Western Alamance 120-24.
The Orange women held off Cedar Ridge 103-63, defeated Williams 104-40, and routed Western Alamance 109-30.
The Cedar Ridge men won over Williams 82-26 and defeated Western Alamance 77-34. The Cedar Ridge women defeated Williams 103-49 and won over Western Alamance 103-45.
For the Orange men, senior Nick Baczara teamed with Luke Roman, Ayden Twiddy and Alex Andre to win two relay events: the 400 yard freestyle and 200 yard medley relay. In both cases, they qualified for regionals
Boczara also won the 200 yard freestyle at 2:04.59.
Orange junior Alex Andre captured two first place finishes individually. He touched the wall first in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:04.69. He also won the 50 yard freestyle at 24.06 seconds, beating out Western Alamance’s Eamon Hipps (24.30). Chris Seawell of Cedar Ridge came in third (24.88), also qualifying for regionals.
Last season, Andre finished third in the 500 yard freestyle in the state championships.
Orange’s Ayden Twiddy won the 500 yard freestyle at 5:49.23.
Orange junior Luke Roman captured the 100 yard backstroke at 58.26. Last year, Roman finished 4th in the 200 yard freestyle in the state championships.
The Cedar Ridge Men’s 200 yard freestyle relay team qualified for regionals and finished first on the night. Agans, Phillip Cauwels, Jacob Olmstead and Seawell came in at 1:43.25. Orange’s team of Noah Jones, Colin Wuthrich, Andrew Jouannet and Dylan Cowan finished 2nd at 1:46.21.
Orange women’s senior Riley White won two events. She captured the 50 yard freestyle (26:09) and the 200 yard individual medley (2:19.00), earning spots in regional for both events.
Cedar Ridge junior Sophia Stinnett, a junior who finished sixth in the 2023 state championships in the 500 yard freestyle, won the 100 yard freestyle at 57.54 seconds.
Orange junior Piper White won the 100 yard butterfly at 1:04.33. Cedar Ridge’s Quinn McCrimmon finished second at 1:06.11, while Orange’s Zoe Jones finished 3rd.
The Cedar Ridge women’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Sarah Latham, McCrimmon, Zafar and Stinnett won the event and earned a spot in regionals at 1:55.26. Orange’s Claudia Sadgrove, Ainsley Rasinske, Molly Kruse and Zoe Jones came in 2nd at 1:59.81.
The Orange women’s relay team of Sikes, Ainsley Rasinske, Piper While and Riley White, who won the state championship in the 200 yard freestyle relay last year, won the 400 yard freestyle on Senior Night at 4:04.01. Cedar Ridge’s Catherine Latham, Sarah Latham, Sierra Godfrey and Emily Habib finished seconds.