In the final days of January, the Orange men’s swimming team is in a familiar position.
This Saturday, they will head to the Greensboro Aquatic Center with hopes of winning the 3A Central Regional Championship. Last year, they finished runner-up in regionals to Carrboro.
Following that, it will be the 3A State Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary on February 8th.
For the third year in a row, Orange will go into Greensboro after winning the Central Conference championship.
Senior Nack Baczara and juniors Luke Roman and Alex Andre each won two individual events as the Panthers finished with 417 points in the conference championships at the Orange County Sportsplex on Thursday night.
Cedar Ridge finished 2nd with 371 points. Red Wolf senior Nikhil Agans won the 100 yard freestyle at 51.39 seconds to take the conference title. Freshman Christopher Seawell captured the 50 yard freestyle at 25.24 seconds in his first conference championship appearance.
Roman was named the Central Conference Male Swimmer of the Year for the second time in his career. He also earned the honor as a freshman. For the third straight year, Roman won the 500 yard freestyle as he literally lapped the field with a time of 4:51.05. Phillip Cauwels of Cedar Ridge earned the silver medal at 5:33.00.
Roman also won the conference championship in the 200 yard freestyle at 1:46.63. Agans, the defending conference champion, finished 2nd at 1:52.33. It was his second 200 yard freestyle conference title. Roman last won the event in his freshman year, narrowly edging Cedar Ridge’s Alexander Hill by :.54 of a second.
Roman now has six individual conference championships in his career. Last year, Roman won the 500 yard and 100 yard freestyle.
Baczara won the 100 butterfly at 59.29. Cauwels finished second at 1:02.93. Later, Baczara added the 100 yard breaststroke to his gold medal collection with a time of 1:16.78. Evan Sawyer, a freshman from Eastern Alamance, came in second at 1:18.59.
Andre, a junior who finished 3rd in the 3A State Championships in the 500 yard freestyle last February, captured the gold in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:03.33. Eamon Hipps of Western Alamance was second at 2:19.71. Orange senior Benjamin Sirgany was third at 2:29.15.
Andre captured the 100 yard backstroke at :58.68. Cedar Ridge freshman Christopher Seawell was second at 1:00.62. Sirgany took the bronze at 1:06.98.
In his first conference championship meet, Seawell came away with an impressive medal total. In addition to winning the 50 freestyle, Seawell and Agans would add another gold to their collection in the 200 yard freestyle relay. The duo would team with Cauwels and junior Jacob Olmstead to win at 1:42.33, The time automatically qualified Cedar Ridge for regionals. Orange’s team of Dylan Cowan, Noah Jones, Andrew Jouannet and Sirgany finished 2nd at 1:45.96.
Orange’s 400 yard freestyle relay team of Roman, Andre, Baczara and Ayden Twiddy took first place in two relay events. They captured first place at 3:38.46. It was their first victory in the 400 relay. Last year, Roman, Andre, Andrew Weeks and Evan Phillips finished second behind a team from Northwood.
Orange also repeated as the winner of the 200 yard medley relay. Roman, Andre, Twiddy and Baczara registered a time of 1:53.13. Western Alamance’s team of Zack Ollis, Wylie Kline, Eamon Hipps and Jacob Miles came in second. Orange’s team of Colin Wuthrich, Sirgany, Cowan and Noah Jones finished third at 2:04.69.
Jones took the bronze medal in the 100 yard freestyle at :59.06.
Twiddy finished third in the 500 yard freestyle at 5:40.65, which automatically qualified him for regionals.
With a trip to Greensboro next on its itinerary, Orange is going to a pool that have plenty of experience with. In December, several Orange swimmers competed in the Robert Sawyer Invitational at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. In that event, Roman won the 500 yard freestyle at 4:47.39, beating many swimmers from 4A and private schools from across the state.