Swimming | 10/18/2024 5:28:00 PM

Columbia, SC – The Oceanside Collegiate Academy girls swimming team continued a six-year run among the best in the Palmetto State on Thursday, placing second in the SCHSL Class AAA Swimming Championship at the Carolina Natatorium.
 
For the Landsharks, it was the sixth consecutive season with a top four finish in the state championship event.
 
"Based on the psych sheet, second was an attainable goal for us going into the meet," OCA coach Courtney Beauch said. "Everyone knew what they needed to do in order to keep that place, and we had a little luck on our side that gave us a little cushion going into the last event."
 
Senior Charlotte Hill was the only member of the Oceanside squad to capture a state title, winning the 100-yard Butterfly with a time of 58.83 seconds, which was .2 seconds ahead of second place finisher Riley Reed, a junior from St. Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville.
 
With the one title, Hill also finished second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.39, .7 seconds behind Bella Stewart from St. Joseph's. Oceanside also earned second place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
 
"This was the first time the relays were put together the way they were, so it was fun to see them come together and pull off some great top three finishes," Beauch said. "It was a very quick meet with not a lot of turnaround time for some of our girls with rest between events, but they knew what the goal was and fought and finished the meet with smiles on their faces after seeing their hard work pay off to get second in the state."
 
That 200-yard medley was the first event of the meet, with the team of Hill, seniors Annabelle Johnson and Addison Bartemeyer joined by junior Lily Grace Holland. The group posted a time of 1:54.66 to finish second behind the squad from St. Joseph's that included Steward and Reed along with Aurora Clements and Odette Brown.
 
The next race was the 200-yard freestyle with Oceanside freshmen Eryn Lee (2:03.77) and Alex Ballenger (2:32.1) join with junior Caitlin Triplett (2:11.68). Lee finished eighth in the race while Triplett finished 13^th and Ballenger 24^th.
 
Bartemeyer was the next Landshark in the water, finishing fourth in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:12.29, missing out on earning a medal by just 1.18 seconds. Sophomore Kate Baldwin (2:31.8) finished 13^th in the event and classmate Elli Kate Littleton (2:41.04) finished 20^th to add points to the Oceanside total.
 
The next event was the 50-yard freestyle. Holland was the only competitor in that event for OCA, posting a time of 26.92 to finish ninth.
 
Hill's state title swim in the 100-yard Butterfly was next. She was joined in the race by Lee (1:03.88) and Triplett (1:07.33) who finished eighth and 13^th respectively.
 
Bartemeyer earned a bronze medal for third place in the 100-yard freestyle, posting a time of 55.14 seconds. Senior Annabelle Johnson also competed in that race, posting a time of 59.14 to finish ninth.
 
The grueling 500-yard freestyle was the next race on the docket with OCA junior Ella Johnson (5:46.29) and freshmen Dakota Reilly (6:07.77) and Camilia Causey (6:16.52) all earning points for the Landsharks with their ninth, 14^th and 18^th place finishes.
 
The next event was the 200-yard freestyle relay with OCA's group of Holland, Lee and the Johnson sisters earning third place with a time of 1:44.75, which was less than two seconds short of the winning time.
 
Hill was back in the water, leading a trio of Landsharks, in the 100-yard backstroke. The senior posted a time of 1:00.39 to finish second, less than one second behind Stewart from St. Joseph's. Ella Johnson, swimming in consecutive races, finished 11^th with a time of 1:06.53 while Baldwin finished 13^th with a time of 1:08.1.
 
Annabelle Johnson was one of three Landsharks in the 100-yard breaststroke, the penultimate event of the meet. She finished eighth with a time of 1:15.49. Causey earned a 12^th place finish with a time of 1:20.07 while Holland finished 14^th with a time of 1:20.81.
 
The Landsharks closed the meet with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay, posting a time of 3:48.3. OCA's swimmers in the final event were Lee, Triplett, Hill and Bartemeyer, the latter two closing out their prep swimming careers with a silver.
 
"Every girl on the team did their job and made OCA proud," Beauch said. "It's always hard to tell what the season is going to look like but, as the meets were wrapping up, it was clear we would have a great group of swimmers on the state team and that was proven with the way they finished the season."
 
As a team, the Landsharks held a 13-point advantage over the third-place team from Academic Magnet. St. Joseph's won the team title with 567.5 points.
 
About Oceanside Collegiate Academy: Oceanside Collegiate Academy (OCA), located in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., serves high school students in a safe, small and family-centered setting. Our students seek the opportunity and challenge of rigorous curriculum, high academic standards and elite athletics while earning up to two years of college credit. OCA serves students in grades 9-12 using an honors curriculum in 9th and 10 grades with a dual enrollment curriculum in 11th and 12th grades Learn more about OCA by visiting our website at OceansideCollegiateAcademy.org and by following us on social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For video content, visit our YouTube channel.