Thomas County Central High School’s swim team is finishing up its regular season and gearing up for region competition.
The season began in late 2014 with the Coffee Trojan Invitational at South Georgia College in Douglas. The team also has competed in the Tift County Invitational at Darton College and the Thomasville Swim Meet at Everett-Milton YMCA on Jan. 13, where the girls’ team placed second and the boys’ team placed third.
“Every year we have several returning swimmers that we look forward to seeing,” head coach Kyle Burton said. “Each season we know we can count on them to improve more and more.”
The team will close out its season with the region swim meet at Albany State College on Jan. 27.
Every year the TCCHS swim team brings home individual region champions in several events, but it has been more than 10 years since TCCHS won a region team title.
“This year is the year to bring home the region title,” Burton said.
Members anticipate it will be a close meet with Bainbridge, who was last year’s region champ.
“Hard work and commitment from the entire team is what it’s going to take to bring home the region title,” Carlton Ogletree, boys team captain, said.
Girls captain Jordan Barrett said, knowing her team “is so close to winning the region championship” makes her senior year “even more exciting.”
Coaches Kyle Burton and Todd Wilson have put together several challenging workouts to get the team ready for region.
“Working hard in and outside of the pool is key to improving the swimmer’s time,” Burton said.
Several TCCHS swimmers are extremely close to making qualifying state times. For example, the TCCHS Girls A Relay team is three-tenths of a second away from the state cut of 1.53.00 in the 200 free relay.
If they qualify, then they will get the chance to swim at Georgia Tech on Feb. 5th during state competition.
“We expect great things from this team and each swimmer can only get closer to beating their best time,” Burton said.