by  Travis Haese | Staff Writer

Johnson swimming returns from the regional swim meet triumphant with both boys and girls proudly representing their school. Earlier in January the Jags competed in the district meet and excelled to regional competition.

“We did better than we did in the previous years,” junior Cameron Wickes said. “In regionals, boys got 4th overall and girls got 5th.”

Cameron and Riley Marks swam their way to second place in the 200 yard freestyle. Cameron received 6th in the 500 freestyle and Riley and Reid McCorkle won their events in the 100 backstroke. Raquel Grays received 3rd place in the 50 freestyle, and Raquel and Brianna Higgins received 5th and 6th in the 100 freestyle. Josh Morgan obtained 4th in the 100 freestyle. Johnson’s girls 200 freestyle relay returned strong in 2nd, and the boys got 2nd in the 400 free relay.

“Just about everyone got a new personal best by a lot,” Wickes said. “And a lot of school records were broken.”

Those who did well in their event but weren’t able to go to state will receive another opportunity during call ups.

“Everyone who wins their event in regionals gets to go to state,” Wickes said. “The next eight fastest times will get called up to compete in the state meet also.”

For that reason, this was made to eliminate unfair match ups in heats.

“Because some swimmers who may be in a really fast heat may get second even thought they are fast swimmers,” Wickes said. “So it wouldn’t be fair if they didn’t get to go to state even though they can easily do well at state.”