Tallulah Falls School shined in its first GIAA State Championship meet on Saturday at Georgia Tech. The Lady Indians and Indians each won the team State Championship, while four individuals and four relays won gold overall between the boys and girls.
In the first half of the meet, TFS made a statement early. The opening two events netted state titles in both the girls and boys 200 medley relays. The girls’ time of 1:49.19 was a school record and GIAA state record. The boys’ time was a season-best of 1:41.90. Within the next hour, senior Madison Dampier won three individual titles in the 200 IM, 50 Free, and 100 Fly, with the first two in school record timing. Lucia Roser de Hoyos and Jeremy Hassell had runner-up races in that opening half, as did the girls 200 Medley Relay ‘B’ group.
Tallulah Falls continued to dominate thereafter, with Roser de Hoyos edging out Selah Wiltshire in the 100 Free for the title, with both times beating the prior school record set by Dampier. Roser de Hoyos finished at 54.78. Hassell was runner-up in the 500 Free, Isabella Berzal Toledo was runner-up with a school record 1:06.96 in the 100 Back, and both the girls and boys won the 200 Free relays.
In total, the teams had four relay state championships and four individual championships. The following swimmers earned top-5 finishes in their respective events:
GIRLS
- Madison Dampier – State Champion in 200 IM, 50 Free, 100 Fly
- Lucia Roser de Hoyos – State Champion in 100 Free, 2nd in 200 Free
- Mattie Patterson – 3rd in 100 Fly, 4th in 200 IM, 4th in 100 Breast
- 200 Medley Relay (Griffis, Toledo, Dampier, Wiltshire) – State Champions!
- 200 Free Relay (Wiltshire, Roser de Hoyos, Berzal Toledo, Dampier) – State Champions!
- Isabella Berzal Toledo – 2nd in 100 Breast
- 200 Medley Relay ‘B’ (Arias, Roser de Hoyos, Patterson, Patterson) – 2nd
- Selah Wiltshire – 2nd in 100 Free, 3rd in 50 Free
- Carsyn Griffis – 3rd in 500 Free, 4th in 200 Free
- 200 Free Relay ‘B’ (Patterson, Griffis, Patterson, Arias) – 3rd
BOYS
- 200 Medley Relay (Penland, Polley, Hassell, Kafsky) – State Champions!
- 200 Free Relay (Kafsky, Penland, Hassell, Polley) – State Champions!
- Jeremy Hassell – 2nd in 200 Free, 2nd in 500 Free, 4th in 100 Fly
- Caden Polley – 3rd in 200 IM, 4th in 100 Breast, 5th in 100 Fly
- Grayson Penland – 5th in 200 IM
