Thursday was a good day to be an Indian. Bridgeport High School swimmers made a first-day splash at the WVSSAC state swim meet at the West Virginia University Natatorium.

 

The boys’ 200-yard medley relay team of Randy Keener, Luke Pinti, John Carter and Kyle Malcolm rocked the competition and, in fact, are seeded first in today’s finals. The girls’ medley relay team of Urse, Johnson, Rohde and Maria Lacaria landed in the second spot, but broke a school record in the process.

 

That’s just a drop of the excitement that took place during Thursday’s preliminaries.

 

As a team, the Tribe boys landed in the top spot after day one of competitive swimming, followed by Parkersburg High, Parkersburg South, Hurricane, George Washington and Wheeling Park.

 

Twenty-four swimmers, in three heats, competed in the boys’ 200-yard individual medley. The Tribe’s Randy Keener placed third, earning a spot in the finals. Luke Pinti placed 10^th, also securing a chance for a state title.

 

John Carter and Kyle Malcolm placed third and ninth, respectively, in the boys’ 50-yard freestyle race. Both will compete in today’s finals.

The Rodriquez brothers earned double 7s; Viktor placing seventh in the 100-yard butterfly and Marcel landing the same spot in the 100-yard freestyle race.

 

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Indians placed second, the foursome of Marcel Rodriquez, Kyle Malcolm, Phillip Malenich and John Carter dropping 2.83 from their best time.

 

In the 100-yard backstroke race, Keener placed second and Phillip Malenich and Reed Smith placed eighth and 10^th.

 

Pinti and Carter scored third and fourth places, respectively, in the 100-yard breaststroke event. Ryan Knapp picked up an eighth place.

The Tribe also picked up a fifth place in the boys’ 400-yard freestyle relay; the team consisting of Marcel Rodriquez, Malcolm, Malenich and Keener.

 

Bridgeport girls ended day one in the second spot, with Parkersburg High in first place. Wheeling Park, Fairmont Senior, Hurricane and George Washington, earned third through sixth spots, respectively.

 

Olivia Urse finished second in the 200-yard individual medley and Sarah Stallman picked up 10^th place in the girls’ 200-yard freestyle race.

Cheyanne Rohde earned third place in the 50-yard free and fourth place in the 100-yard butterfly. Teammate Darian Spencer finished 11^th and Vaughn Vincent just missed advancing to finals, landing in the 13 spot.

 

Marra Johnson earned a spot in 500-yard freestyle finals by finishing third in preliminaries and Stallman finished the 100-yard freestyle event in 10^th place.

 

Urse finished second in the 100-yard backstroke race and Hope Rieser also secured a spot in finals by finishing 10^th. Cheri Signorelli just missed a spot in finals. She finished in 13^th place.

 

Johnson placed fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke race

 

The Lady Indians’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Spencer, Stallman, Lacaria and Rohde finished third as did the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Spencer, Johnson, Lacaria and Urse.

 

Boys’ finals begin at 8:30 a.m. and girls’ finals at 4:30 p.m. Check back to Connect-Bridgeport for results.

 

Photos are by Joey Signorelli of Ben Queen Photography. See more BOYS' IMAGES HERE and GIRLS' IMAGES HERE.