Eight-year-old Nathan Whitt, right, poses with the Centre Otter team banner at the state swim in Cullman last weekend. Whitt became the first Otter to earn a top 8 finish. As a team, the Otters posted personal best times in 25 of 31 events at state.
The Otters set personal best times in 25 of the 31 events they participated in at the state meet.
“Our team exceeded their expectations,” Otter head coach Kurt Duryea said. “They worked hard all summer and peaked at the right time.”
Eight-year-old Nathan Whitt became the first Otter to earn a top eight finish in the history of the City of Centre. The top eight finishers in each event were awarded medals and ribbons of achievement for their accomplishments.
Whitt was seeded 11th in the 8-and-under 25 breaststroke field going into the event. Whitt responded with a 25.42 time, which shaved nearly three seconds of his first place time from the district meet.
“I knew Nathan had a shot to get on the podium because he had worked really hard on the attention to small details that it takes to be competitive with the top swimmers,” Duryea said.
Added Whitt: “Coach told me to just get up there and focus on my lane and not worry about anything else. I swam as fast as I could.”
Reid Davis, 15th in the 100 IM, trimmed his district time by an astonishing twelve seconds. Seven-year-old Virginia Rainer record a personal record in the breaststroke, as did Leighton Rainer (9-10 girls), Erin McCord (9-10 girls), Bailey Graves and Dru Rainer (11-12 boys), as well as Carly Duryea (13-14 girls) in the same stroke.
Reece Winstead and Grant Goss had top times in the 8-and-under 25 freestyle.
Graves, Dru Rainer, Madeline Winstead and Carly Duryea lower their 50 freestyle sprint times as well.
In the 9-10 girls 200 Medley Relay, Ainsley Davis (backstroke), Leighton Rainer (breaststroke), Erin McCord (fly) and Camryn Peace (freestyle) took an even 20 seconds off their posted time from districts. On Saturday, Davis opened the completion with a 50 fly improvement of 12 seconds in the 9-10 girls.
Davis, the third seed out of district, finished 16th at state and beat both of her district competitors.
In the backstroke Whitt, Reece Winstead, McKinley Rouss, Dru Rainer, Carly Duryea, and Madeline Winstead earned personal records. Rouss and Jordyn Walker closed out the individual events on Saturday with best times in the long free for 8-and-under girls.
In the final competition of the meet Alexis Smith, Leighton Rainer, Ainsley Davis and Erin McCord hammered out a 2:57.05 time in the 200 free relay, breaking their previous best of 3:19.97.
The Otter assistant coach is Betsy Rainer.
For more information on joining the City of Centre Otters next summer, you can e-mail Coach Kurt Duryea at duryea@tds.net.
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