AUBURN- The Bob Jones swim team received its stamp of approval for the 2021 season by taking runner-up trophies in both boys and girls divisions at the Alabama High School Athletic Association State Swim Meet held in Auburn.

The Patriots brought home medals (top three positions) in 12 events including four gold medals. Top individual performances for the event came from sophomores Samantha Chan with four medals, Michael Tretyakov with three performances for medals and junior Riley Groves with four medals. Eighth grade standout Meli  Mbuko also pulled in three medals. Chan won state titles in both the 200-yard IM and 100-yard butterfly. Tretyakov took top honor in the 100-yard freestyle.

“This was our largest group to qualify for the State Meet in my tenure at Bob Jones as we lost several seniors off last year’s team so making top three would be great for the boys, but we setup ourselves to finish strong as Michael did a wonderful job in his events,” said Wade Thaxton head coach of Bob Jones. “Our girls were third last season and we finished just a mere 20 points from first place this year and all of our points were scored by underclassmen this time around. Samantha is the hardest worker I’ve ever seen. She set school records in both of her medal events and is the first individual state champ in at least 10 years here at Bob Jones. We also set new school records in two of our relay races.”

James Clemens and Madison Academy also came home with medal performances at the State Meet. The Jets of James Clemens had two top three showings including one gold medal from senior John Choung in the boys 100-yd breaststroke and a third place finish by Cade McComb in the 100-yd boys freestyle. Bella Daniel of Madison Academy contributed two medal performances for the Class 4A school with bronze medals in both the 100-yd breaststroke and 200-yd IM.

“Holding both of our trophies for runner-up was a surreal moment as there’s nothing like it,” added Thaxton. “With much of our team returning next year, the future looks bright.”

Team scoring in Class 6-7A: Boys- 1. Huntsville 399, 2. Bob Jones 209, 6. James Clemens 159 and 26. Sparkman 11; Girls- 1. Huntsville 321, 2. Bob Jones 301, 17. James Clemens 41 and 26. Sparkman 10. In Class 1-5A: Boys- 1. Randolph 341 and 5. Madison Academy 90; Girls- 1. Randolph 211 and 9. Madison Academy 76.

The finals race results with medal performances included Class 6-7A: Boys- 200-yd medley relay, 3. Bob Jones, 1:37.32, Bryson Tesseneer (Sr.), Justin Roh (Fr.), Riley Groves (Jr.), Boone Ramsey (Sr.); 200-yd IM, 3. John Choung (Sr.), James Clemens, 1:57.31; 50-yd freestyle, 3. Michael Tretyakov (So.), Bob Jones, 21.32; 100-yd butterfly, 2. Riley Groves (Jr.), Bob Jones, 49.18; 100-yd freestyle, 1. Michael Tretyakov (So.), Bob Jones, 46.88, 3. Cade McComb (So.), James Clemens, 47.24; 100-yd backstroke, 2. Riley Groves (Jr.), Bob Jones 57.40; 100-yd breaststroke, 1. John Choung (Sr.), James Clemens, 57.48; 400-yd freestyle relay, 2. Bob Jones, 3:12.75, Bryson Tesseneer (Sr.), Riley Groves (Jr.), Boone Ramsey (Sr.), Michael Tretyakov (So.).

Class 6-7A Girls- 200-yd medley, 2. Bob Jones, 1:48.32, Abby Chan (7), Danielle Nguyen (Fr.), Samantha Chan (So.), Constance Wang (Jr.); 200-yd IM, 1. Samantha Chan (So.), Bob Jones, 2:06.59; 50-yd freestyle, 2. Meli Mbuko (8), Bob Jones, 24.17; 100-yd butterfly, 1. Samantha Chan (So.), Bob Jones, 55:00; 200-yd freestyle relay, 1. Bob Jones, 1:38.89, Regan Baker (Jr.), Lucy Ramsey (Sr.), Constance Wang (Jr.), Meli Mbuko (8); 400-yd freestyle relay, 2. Bob Jones, 3:34.90, Regan Baker (Jr.), Peyton Brady (So.), Meli Mbuko (8), Samantha Chan (So.).

Class 1-5A Girls- 200-yd IM, 3. Bella Daniel, Madison Academy, 2:22.05; 100-yd breaststroke, 3. Bella Daniel, Madison Academy, 1:13.80.