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Parry McCluer High School junior swimmer Olive King won both the girls’ 50-yard and 500-yard freestyle races at the Region 1C and 2C meet on Thursday at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
King, the Fighting Blues’ lone swimmer, had personal records in both races. She won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.4 seconds, breaking 26 seconds for the first time this season and finishing more than two seconds ahead of the runner-up, Galax’s Raygan Cocke, who completed the race in 27.66 seconds. In the 500-yard freestyle, King dropped nearly 24 seconds over the course of the season, winning last Thursday’s race in 5:36.1, more than 26 seconds ahead of the runnerup, Fort Chiswell’s Mikaela Thomas (6:02.71).
“For a one-person team, Olive sure crushed it!” said her coach, Erica Bisaillon.
King scored enough points, 18, to put the PM girls in ninth place of 11 teams. She finished just behind Appo- mattox County (28) and ahead of Fort Chiswell (14) and Auburn (8). Radford (101) won the girls’ meet, George Wythe (87) placed second, and Galax (79) finished third. Rounding out the top seven were Liberty (69), Glenvar (48), James River (40) and Giles (30).
Last year, King won the regional title in the 100-yard freestyle and placed third in the 200-yard freestyle.
King, who practices with the Rockbridge County High School swimmers, will compete in the Class 1 and 2 state meet on Thursday at the SwimRVA Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Richmond. At last year’s state meet, King placed seventh in the 100-yard freestyle and eighth in the 50-yard freestyle.
Pleased by King’s progress, Bisaillon said, “It’s delightful seeing all the hard work pay off. She’s only going up from here.”
