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For the second year in a row, Parry McCluer High School senior Olive King won a pair of regional titles, claiming the girls’ 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle races at the Region 1C and 2C meet this past Thursday night at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
King, the Fighting Blues’ lone swimmer, defended her regional title in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing in 5 minutes, 33.08 seconds, cutting about three seconds from her winning time last year. She finished more than 31 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Fort Chiswell’s Mikaela Thomas (6:04.37). “But after I finished my race, I knew I could have gone faster,” said King.
In the 200-yard freestyle, King finished in 1:59.28, a personal record by about five seconds, nearly 18 seconds ahead of the runner-up, James River’s Riley Persinger (2:17.06). To finish in under two minutes “was a big deal for me,” said King.
The PM swimmer scored enough points, 18, to put her in eighth place of 11 teams. She finished just behind Auburn (27) and ahead of Appomattox County (15), James River (14) and Fort Chiswell (13). Radford (111) won the girls’ meet, Galax (96) placed second, and Liberty (67) finished third. Rounding out the top six were Glenvar (58), Giles (56) and George Wythe (47).
King said the keys to winning her races were “listening to my coach [Erica Bisaillon] and executing our plan. We had come up with what I was going to do for every 50 of my 200, and I followed the plan.”
In addition to winning the 500-yard freestyle last year, King won the regional title in the 50-yard freestyle, but she decided to go with the two longer distances this year.
“It was a great meet for me,” said King.
In total, King achieved state-qualifying times in six individual events this season. King, who practices with the Rockbridge County High School swimmers, is scheduled to compete in the Class 1 and 2 state meet on Saturday at the SwimRVA Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Richmond. At last year’s state meet, King placed third in the 500-yard freestyle and finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle.
Looking ahead to this Saturday, King said, “My hopes for the state meet are to get personal records in both events and get higher placings than years past.”
