Three earn district medals
Mairead Doyle, Stephanie Setar, and Daniel Jablonski were individual event medalists at the District XI Class AAA Swimming Championships this past weekend at Parkland High School.
Doyle clinched a silver medal in the 50 free.
“It feels amazing,” said Doyle. “The medal feels amazing.”
Doyle swam the 50 in 24.94.
“Each day I would go through and just picture the race, and tapering helped a lot,” Doyle said. “Today was my best time. I had so much adrenaline.”
Teammate, Grace Sullivan, came in 11th in the 50 free with a time of 25.78.
Setar won a bronze medal in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.70.
“I was so excited when I looked at the board,” said Setar. “I wanted a medal so bad. I was so nervous because I was seeded fourth, and I was really wanting to get on the podium and hold my spot. I swam it all season, and every meet, I dropped time.”
Setar had even more incentive at the very beginning of the race.
“Everyone saw me slip off the start, I know they did,” she said. “This medal felt so good because I didn’t make it last year in individual events.”
Setar had a fifth place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.49. Teammate, Alexus Merkert was sixth in the same event with a time of 1:00.60.
Jablonski won a bronze medal in the 500 free.
“This was a very thrilling experience,” said Jablonski. “I’m more thrilled for my time than my place.”
Jablonski swam the 500 in 4:52.04, his personal best.
“I felt pretty good during warm-up, but I was definitely shaking [on the block]. I wanted to go under 4:45,” Jablonski said.
In the last 100, Jablonski pulled away from the swimmer in lane 5 to grab third place.
Jablonski had a sixth place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:49.64.
“I didn’t think I’d do that well,” he said. “I went all out in the last 50.”
Jordan Rivera placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.02.
In relays, the Zephyr girls won two fourth-place medals.
Setar, Doyle, Merkert, and Sullivan swam the 200 medley relay in 1:50.54, and Doyle, Sullivan, Merkert, and Setar swam the 400 free relay in 3:45.02.
Doyle, Martha Giletto, Hope Millets, and Sullivan placed fifth in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:42.87.
In boys’ relays, Felix Figueroa, Ziyad Khafagy, Michael Haggerty, and Jablonski placed eighth in the 400 free relay in 3:33.52.
Jablonski, Rivera, Figueroa, and Khafagy placed ninth in the 200 medley relay in 1:47.42.
Rivera, Figueroa, Khafagy, and Haggerty placed 14th in the 200 free relay.