Bob Jones Takes Third In State Swim Championships; James Clemens Has Lone Local Individual State Champion
HUNTSVILLE- The Bob Jones swim and dive team took third place honors in both boys and girls at the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) State and Diving Championships held at the Huntsville Aquatic Center. Overall, local teams won eight medals by finishing in the top three of the individual races including John Choung of James Clemens winning the lone state championship among the local schools.
Choung, a sophomore for the Jets, took the state title in the 100-yard breaststroke with a finish time of 57.35 seconds.
For Bob Jones, the 2020 squads featured a continued rebuilding mode after losing a large amount of seniors in 2018. Last year, the Lady Patriots finished 13th in the state meet and were looking for a top 10 finish in 2020. The Pats had swimmers in 15 events and took advantage of super efforts for a unexpected third place finish behind state champion Huntsville (230 points) and runner-up Westminster Christian Academy (180) by totaling 174.50 points just missing one of the state meet trophies handed out to the top two teams.
The boys had its best finish since 2015 by taking third place with 204 points finishing behind first place Huntsville (332) and Auburn (258). The Patriots entered the 2020 campaign with thoughts of finishing among the top three teams and qualified participants in 22 individual events and three relay races, which was the most in head coach Wade Thaxton’s tenure since taking over the program in 2017.
For Madison Academy its lone qualifying athlete for the state meet did not disappoint as seventh grader Bella Daniel finished third in the 1A-5A 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:24.88 and seventh in the 100-yard Freestyle at 59.43.
Runner-up finishers at the state meet included Samantha Chan of James Clemens in the girls 100-yard Butterfly, Riley Groves of Bob Jones in the boys 100-yard Butterfly, Beau Broussard of James Clemens in the boys 100-yard Backstroke and the James Clemens boys in the 200-yard Medley Relay.
Here are the complete results of the local teams at the state meet:
Boys: 200 medley relay- 2. James Clemens, 1:35.07, 4. Bob Jones, 1:38.45; 200 freestyle- 8. Joe Palenapa, 12, Bob Jones, 1:47.33; 200 IM- 4. John Choung, 10, James Clemens, 1:57.91, 5. Jake Palenapa, 12, Bob Jones, 1:59.50, 15. Justin Roh, 8, Bob Jones, 1:05.81; 50 freestyle- 8. Michael Tretyakov, 9, Bob Jones, 22.19, 11. Cade McComb, 8, James Clemens, 22:34, 15. Boone Ramsey, 11, Bob Jones, 22.78, 24. Ben Woods, 10, Bob Jones, 23.40, 25. Josh Chubb, 9, James Clemens, 23.42, 26. Josh Lin, 12, Bob Jones, 23.45; 100 butterfly- 2. Riley Groves, 10, Bob Jones, 50.22, 5. Beau Broussard, James Clemens, 51.20, 10. Joe Palenapa, 12, Bob Jones, 53.53, 15. Mason Holtcamp, 11, James Clemens, 54.59, 18. Bryson Tesseneer, 11, Bob Jones, 56.88; 100 freestyle- 10. Michael Tretyakov, 9, Bob Jones, 49.26, 15. Cade McComb, 8, James Clemens, 50.00, 24. Boone Ramsey, 11, Bob Jones, 51.50, 29. Ben Woods, 10, Bob Jones, 52.31, 30. Josh Lin, 12, Bob Jones, 52.35; 500 freestyle- 18. Nathan Johnson, James Clemens, 5:21.96; 200 freestyle relay- 4. Bob Jones, 1:30.57; 100 backstroke- 2. Beau Broussard, James Clemens, 50.27, 4. Riley Groves, 10, Bob Jones, 52.52, 13. Bryson Tesseneer, 11, Bob Jones, 56.71, 18. Mason Holtcamp, 11, James Clemens, 57.81, 20. Alex Kulkarni, James Clemens, 59.91; 100 breaststroke- 1. John Choung, 10, James Clemens, 57.35, 6. Justin Roh, 8, 1:00.02, 12. Jake Palenapa, 12, Bob Jones, 1:01.83, 22. Zach Mendenhall, 9, James Clemens, 1:05.06; 400 freestyle relay- 3. Bob Jones, 3:15.38.
Boys team scores- 6A-7A, 3. Bob Jones, 204, 8. James Clemens, 123.
Girls: 200 medley relay- 4. Bob Jones, 1:50.85, 8. James Clemens, 1:54.02; 200 freestyle- 8. Jayme Simmer, 11, Sparkman, 1:59.87, 10. Anna Mead, 11, James Clemens, 2:00.97, 11. Hallie Mitchell, James Clemens, 2:01.78; 200 IM- 5. Samantha Chan, 9, Bob Jones, 2:10.26, 11. Jessica Nguyen, 10, Bob Jones, 2:19.33; 1A-5A 200 IM- 3. Bella Daniel, 7, Madison Academy, 2:24.88; 50 freestyle- 10. Constance Wang, 10, Bob Jones, 25.03, 12. Meli Mbuko, 7, Bob Jones, 25.14, 15. Regan Baker, 10, Bob Jones, 25.23, 16. Anna Chubb, 9, James Clemens, 25.58, 17. Sarah Shirley, 11, James Clemens, 25.61, 25. Lucy Ramsey, 11, Bob Jones, 26.22; 100 butterfly- 2. Samantha Chan, 9, Bob Jones, 56.19; 100 freestyle- 9. Regan Baker, 10, Bob Jones, 55.24, 12. Sarah Shirley, 11, James Clemens, 55.61, 14. Meli Mbuko, 7, Bob Jones, 55.66, 16. Constance Wang, 10, Bob Jones, 56.01, 17. Anna Chubb, 9, James Clemens, 56.13; 1A-5A 100 freestyle- 7. Bella Daniel, 7, Madison Academy, 59.43; 500 freestyle- 6. Jayme Simmer, 11, Sparkman, 5:17.39, 8. Anna Mead, 11, James Clemens, 5:35.83, 9. Emma Williams, 11, 5:37.24; 200 freestyle relay- 6. Bob Jones, 1:43.06, 8. James Clemens, 1:46.19; 100 backstroke- 9. Emilie Tesseneer, 7, Bob Jones, 1:00.86, 19. Hallie Mitchell, James Clemens, 1:04.31; 100 breaststroke- 8. Jessica Nguyen, 10, Bob Jones, 1:10.49, 15. Clara Choung, James Clemens, 1:14.60; 400 freestyle relay- 4. Bob Jones, 3:41.45, 9. James Clemens, 3:48.87.
Girls team scores- 1A-5A, 13. Madison Academy, 28; 6A-7A, 3. Bob Jones, 174.50, 8. James Clemens, 118.50, 22. Sparkman, 24.
In the diving competition, Ashley Ahrens of James Clemens took third in the 1-meter event. The sophomore tallied 342.40 points. Jessica Swartz, a junior at Bob Jones finished No. 12 with 265.65 points, Maggie Lawley, an eighth grader was No. 19 with 164.85 points and her grade and squad teammate Ana Lara-Lemus was No. 20 with 152.80 points.
In boys, the final results included 6. Alec Benzek, 11, James Clemens, 336.95, 13. Griffin Gilmartin, 11, Bob Jones, 262.10, 17. Nolan Blakely, James Clemens, 164.40, 19. Mason Puhalovic, 8, Bob Jones, 151.25, 20. Nikolas Barnhart, 9, Bob Jones, 149.15.
