Local swimmers reach GHSA state finals

Adairsville's Harper Powell and Cartersville's Giulia Vidoli each reached the finals in two individual events at the 2020 state swimming and diving meet this past weekend at Georgia Tech.

Powell finished 11th in the 50-yard freestyle and 12th in the 100-yard backstroke in the 1A-3A division. Vidoli placed 15th in the 100 back and 18th in the 200 free, while competing in the 4A-5A division. Both standouts are juniors.

Along with her individual achievements, Vidoli was also the anchor of a Canes relay team that reached the finals in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle events. Cartersville finished 13th in the 400 and 14th in the 200 with seniors Grayson Breedlove, Rachel Long and Gracie Siniard swimming the first three legs, respectively.

Although those were the only ones to make the finals, Adairsville and Cartersville had other individuals and relay teams reach state, competing in preliminaries ahead of Saturday's finals.

Siniard placed 32nd in the 100-yard butterfly prelims, while Breedlove was 32nd in the 100 back. Mallory Cook, a junior for the Tigers, was 40th in the 100 fly prelims.

Adairsville had its girls and boys 200 free relay teams qualify for state. Cook, sophomores Sam Pasley and Josie Siniard, and Powell finished 35th in the prelims. Juniors Scott Nguyen and Davis Hardin, freshman Andy Barnett, and senior Evan Crane wound up 60th among the boys teams.