Orange Swimming

Katie Belle Sikes has spent a significant portion of her life under water.

From the time she was in third grade, Sikes has been a daily fixture in the pools of the Orange County Sportsplex. Day after day of practice with the Orange Panthers swim team and the Hillsborough Aquatic Club has lead to her becoming the #1 ranked female sophomore swimmer, private schools included, in the state of North Carolina.

Now, Sikes’ goal of becoming the first Orange High swimmer (regardless of gender) to win a state championship is in clear focus after a successful regional weekend in Greensboro.

After winning the 50-yard freestyle regional title in 2021 as a freshman, Sikes captured two regional championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Saturday in the 3A Central Regional Championships. In the 50-yard freestyle, Sikes repeated her championship by touching the wall at 23.63 seconds. Carrboro’s Lindy Bilden came in second at 24.45. Northwood’s Julia Earnshaw, who lost to Sikes by just nine-hundredths-of-a-second in the Central Carolina Conference championships on January 27, came in third.

Sikes earned her 3rd career regional title in the 100 yard freestyle. Sikes finished at 51.66 seconds, holding off Carrboro Kate Hegland, who came in at 51.84 seconds.

“I’m incredibly proud of how well our team did and how supportive we are of each other,” Sikes said. “I was very excited going into this meet as it was my first ‘large-scale’ normalish meet. I was also excited to be joined by most of my team, which is all because of my incredible coach, Ron Geib.”

The only Orange aquatic state champion in school history came in 1999 and 2000, when Jennifer Rehm won the 4A State Diving Championship. In 1999, Rehm finished with 474.65 points to claim the first swimming or diving championship in Hillsborough history. The following year, Rehm repeated her title with a total of 458.60.

The last state swimming championship came from Cedar Ridge High School when Becca Churchill won the 2014 3A State Championship in the 100 yard breaststroke.

Following an undefeated regular season in dual matches, the Orange men’s swimming team finished 2nd in the Central Regional team competition, the best finish in program history. The Panthers, who won the Central Carolina Conference championship, finished with 301 points. Carrboro had 380 points to come in first.

The women’s team, which had six ladies competing, finished in third place, another program best. Carrboro finished first with 460 points while Northwood, the CCC championships, was runner-up at 337 points.

The Orange men had nine competitors qualify for the state championships, which will take place on Friday at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary.

While Cedar Ridge had several competitors qualify for regionals, eight swimmers tested positive for COVID-19 and were unable to travel to Greensboro. Only one Red Wolf swimmer, freshman Phillip Cauwels, wound up in the water. Cauwels finished 12th in the 200 yard freestyle.

In addition to Sikes, four individual female swimmers qualified for the state championships. There were also two women’s relay teams and two men’s medley relay teams who will compete in Cary next Friday.

In the 200 yard medley relay, Sikes joined senior Sandra McCouch, senior Melissa Campbell and junior Ellie Wileman to finish third at 1:59.67. Northwood, which claimed the CCC Championship, took home the regional title at 1:53.27. The Chargers team consists of Earnshaw, Mia Corrado, Lauren Emlich and Gwen Hoeg.

In the 200 yard freestyle relay, Sikes teamed with McCouch, Wileman and Campbell to finish 2nd at 1:47.19. Carrboro won the regional title.

Orange freshman Luke Roman, coming off winning the 500 yard freestyle in the conference championships, finished 2nd in the 200 yard freestyle at 1:52.70. Carrboro’s Andrew Commins came in first. Orange’s Nick Baczara came in fifth in the 200 yard freestyle.

Roman also qualified for the state championships in the 500 yard freestyle with a fourth place finish. Alexandre Andre, an Orange freshman, came in 5th.

Orange’s men’s 400 yard freestyle relay team also claimed a runner-up finish. Roman, Baczara, Andre and Evan Phillips touched the wall at 3:38.21. Carrboro came in first.

In the 100 yard breaststroke, Orange junior Evan Phillips came in second at 1:05.07. Aaron Reyes of Atkins came in first.

Orange senior Ian Moore finished 3rd in the 100 yard backstroke at 59.56 seconds. Moore also qualified for the 100 yard butterfly following a 7th-place finish.

Andre reached the state finals in the 200 yard individual medley. He came in with a time of 2:08.21. Orange’s Phillips finished 7th in the same event, which also led to him qualifying for states.

Other individual female state qualifiers for Orange included Sandra McCouch, who finished 6th in the 100 yard breaststroke. McCouch will join Sikes in the 50 yard freestyle after she came in 8th.

Campbell finished 5th in the 100 yard butterfly. She came in 4th in the 200 yard freestyle.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is freshman swimmer Luke Roman. On Saturday, Roman was named the 2022 Central Carolina Conference Male Swimmer of the Year. Last Thursday, Roman won two gold medals in the Central Carolina Conference Championships at the Orange County SportsPlex in Hillsborough. Roman won the 200 yard freestyle wit a time of 1:52.29, edging out Cedar Ridge’s Alexander Hill. Also, Roman won the 500 yard freestyle championship with a time of 5:19.54, a full 32 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. This Saturday, Roman will compete in the 3A Central Regionals at the Greensboro Coliseum Aquatic Complex. He has qualified for regionals in the 200 yard freestyle, the 500 yard freestyle and the 50 yard freestyle. Roman also qualified for regionals in the 200 yard freestyle relay with teammates Ian Moore, Evan Phillips and Alexander Andre. Roman also will be in the 400 yard freestyle relay with Andre, Phillips and Nick Baczara. This season, Roman was a valuable part of an Orange team that won the Central Carolina Conference championship and finished undefeated in dual meets.

The postseason has arrived in high school swimming and there’s plenty of expectations for Orange men’s and women’s swimming after the Central Carolina Conference championships.

After winning two Central Carolina Conference championships last Thursday at the Orange County Sportsplex, Orange’s Katie Belle Sikes has been ranked the #1 sophomore swimmer in North Carolina by ncprepswimming.com. Sikes is at the top of a list of 25 swimmers that doesn’t differentiate from public and private schools. Of the 25 sophomores ranked, Sikes is one of only two from a 3A school in the entire state (Carrboro’s Maya Lambert is #21). The women’s rankings are broken down by class. Sikes is the only female swimmer from a 3A school ranked #1.

Sikes, who was the 2021 Big 8 Conference Swimmer of the Year, won the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard freestyle championships last Thursday. On Saturday, she will compete in the 3A Central Regional championships in the 50 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, the 100 yard butterfly and the 200 yard individual medley. In addition, she qualified for regionals with two relay teams. In the 200 yard medley relay, Sikes will team with Sandra McCouch, Melissa Campbell and Ellie Wileman. The group also qualified in the 400 yard medley relay.

Campbell qualified for 100 yard butterfly in November. Earlier this month, McCouch automatically qualified for the 100 yard breaststroke after finishing first in a dual meet against Northwood, Walter Williams and River Mills Academy.

Last year, Sikes won the 3A Central Regional championship in the 50 yard freestyle. She finished 2nd in the 3A State Championships behind only Charlotte Catholic’s Olivia Rhodes. Sikes’ time of 23.26 seconds earned her All-American consideration. She missed earning the title of All-American by six-hundredths-of-a-second.

The Orange men’s swimming team swept the Central Carolina Conference honors after finishing the season undefeated in dual matches and finishing 1st in the CCC Championship meet on Thursday.

Freshman Luke Roman is the Central Carolina Conference Male Swimmer of the Year. Roman won the 200 yard freestyle championship and the 500 yard freestyle championship on Thursday. A member of the Hillsborough Aquatic Club since he was in elementary school, Roman has qualified for regionals in the 200 yard freestyle, the 500 yard freestyle and the 50 yard freestyle. In the conference championships, Roman won the 500 yard freestyle at 5:19.54, nearly lapping the seven-man field.

Roman also qualified for regionals in the 200 yard freestyle relay, joining teammates Ian Moore, Evan Phillips and Alexander Andre.

Roman also qualified for the 400 yard freestyle relay with Andre, Phillips and Nick Baczara. They earned their regional qualifying time during the first dual meet of the season on November 22 against Cedar Ridge and Eastern Alamance.

This is the second consecutive year that Geib has been named a Conference Coach of the Year. Last spring, he was honored by representatives from the Big 8 Conference. This year, Orange had a well-rounded men’s team that finished the Central Carolina Conference Championships with 571 points, well ahead of runner-up Eastern Alamance (396 points).

Orange won all of its dual matches this year in the initial season of the Central Carolina Conference.

In addition to Roman, Orange had five other male swimmers qualify for the 3A Central Regionals. At the CCC Championships, junior Evan Phillips won the 200 yard individual medley at 2:10.39. Andre, a freshman, finished runner-up and also automatically qualified for regionals at 2:12.40.

Philiips also qualified for the 100 yard breaststroke after winning the conference title when he touched the wall at 1:06.85, nearly eight seconds ahead of the nearest competitor.

Orange senior Ian Moore claimed the conference championship at the 100 yard backstroke at 1:00.59, which also automatically qualified for regionals. Moore won the 100 yard backstroke in the season-opening dual meet in November.

The 3A Central Regionals will be held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Saturday.

After winning the 3A Central Regional Championship as a freshman and finishing 2nd in the state, Orange sophomore Katie Belle Sikes had high expectations for her sophomore season. On Thursday night, she came away with two gold medals in the Central Carolina Conference Swimming Championships at the Orange County SportsPlex. In the 50 yard freestyle, Sikes finished first with a time of 24.77 seconds. In the 100 yard freestyle, Sikes claimed the conference title by touching the wall at 53.97 seconds. In addition, Sikes has qualified for the 3A Central Regionals in two relay events. She teamed with Sandra McCouch, Melissa Campbell and Ellie Wileman to finish second in the 200 yard medley relay. In the 400 yard freestyle relay, Sikes, McCouch, Campbell and Wileman finished 3rd at 4:09.01. Sikes will compete in the 3A Central Regionals at the Greensboro Aquatic Center next Saturday. If she finishes high enough in any of the four events she has qualified for, she will advance to the 3A State Championships in Cary.

An Orange men’s swimming team filled with underclassmen up and down its roster has already proven what endless hours in the pools at the Orange County SportsPlex can turn into if they work hard enough.

It leads to an undefeated season and a conference title.

On Thursday night, the Panthers claimed the Central Carolina Conference men’s swimming championship at the Orange County SportsPlex. Orange, behind seven first-place finishes in eleven events, came away with 571 points. Eastern Alamance finished second at 396 points.

Cedar Ridge freshman Matthew Czar won two individual gold medals, which pushed the Red Wolves into a 3rd place team finish with 294 points.

Of Orange’s five individual conference champions, only one was from a senior. Two came from freshman Luke Roman, who nearly lapped the field in causing to the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:19.54, a full 32 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Greyson Brummer.

“I would say the 500 freestyle and the 200 freestyle are my best events,” Roman said. “I was pretty nervous and I think you always go into that when you have something in the first try. I just was able to put in the hard work and get all the medals.”

Roman, who has qualified for two individual events for next weekend’s 3A Central Regionals, narrowly held off Cedar Ridge’s Alexander Hill to win the 200 yard freestyle. Roman touched the wall at 1:52.29, while Hill finished at 1:52.83.

Roman also earned two goal medals in relay races. In the 200 yard medley relay, Roman teamed with Ian Moore, freshman Alex Andre and Evan Phillips to finish first at 1:49.80, which qualified the team for the Central Regionals next Saturday. In the 400 yard freestyle relay, Roman, Nick Baczara, Andre and Phillips finished first at 3:49.95, again automatically qualifying for regionals.

Czar, who grew up swimming at the SportsPlex with the Hillsborough Aquatic Club, finished first in the 50 yard freestyle at 24:15. Cedar Ridge’s Nikhil Agans narrowly came in second at 24.23 seconds, while Orange’s Andrew Weeks finished third. Czar and Agans both automatically qualified for regionals.

Czar also claimed the 100 yard freestyle at 56.60 seconds, a new personal best. Tigue Hipps of Walter Williams finished a distance second at 59.99. Cedar RIdge’s Jason Pattison came in third at 1:00.31.

“I came in with a very strong mindset,” Czar said. “I was determined to get the three gold medals and it worked for me. I surpassed my expectations for this year. I was going in as a freshman not even sure if I would even place. I was thinking I’d finish second or third.”

Orange’s Ian Moore not only qualified for regionals, but he captured the conference championship in the 100 yard backstroke at 1:00.59. Weeks earned the bronze medal at 1:05.16.

Orange junior Evan Phillips breezed to the championship of the 100 yard breaststroke at a time of 1:06.85. It was a full seven seconds ahead of Eastern Alamance’s Ethan Brouwer. Orange’s Baczara finished third.

It is Orange’s first conference championship in men’s swimming in at least nine years, and likely longer. They never claimed the Big 8 Championship, where the Panthers called home from 2012-2021.

Orange junior Evan Phillips won the 200 yard individual medley at 2:10.39, holding off freshman teammate Alex Andre, who touched the wall at 2:12.40.

It’s the third conference championship this year for Orange in the Central Carolina Conference. The men’s cross country team claimed the conference title at Northwood High in October, while the wrestling team officially clinched the league title on Tuesday after a win over Eastern Alamance in Hillsborough.

The Central Regional Championships will be held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center next Saturday.

The Orange men’s swimming team completed an undefeated regular season in dual matches last Friday night at the Orange County Sportsplex. In its final regular season dual meet, the Orange men’s team defeated Northwood, Walter Williams and Carrboro. Impressively, the Orange men’s team, coached by Ron Geib, has several freshmen who have already qualified for the 3A Central Regionals. Among them is Luke Roman, who qualified for regionals in the 500 yard freestyle, the 200 yard individual medley and 50 yard freestyle. Junior Evan Phillips has qualified for regionals in the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 yard breaststroke, an event where Phillips finished first in Orange’s season-opening dual meet on November 22. Together, Roman, Phillips, Nick Baczara and Alexander Andre qualified for the 400 yard freestyle relay in November with a time of 3:38.21. On January 29, the Orange men’s and women’s swimming teams will compete in the Central Carolina Conference championships at Orange County Sportsplex.