Wellington junior Andreas Da Silva won four state titles — two individual and two on the relay teams — to help the Wolverines boys team to its best finish in school history on Friday in the Class 4A state meet at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training Center (FAST) in Ocala.
Da Silva won the 100 free (43.72) and the 100 back (48.42) and swam on the gold medal 200 (1:22.80) and 400 free relays (3:01.50) as Wellington finished fourth overall. All four races were automatic All-American times. The Wellington boys and girls teams walked away with five state champions and 10 All-American times.
“It was a great night,” Da Silva said by phone. “I was really focused on going from one thing to another, winning one thing, resetting, and going to the next event. When it was all said and done, I was really proud at the end.”
In winning the 100 freestyle, he had to take out junior teammate Julian Granison (44.96), who finished second, also with an automatic All-American time. Da Silva was ninth in last year’s 100 free at state.
“I definitely thought it was a possibility to win, and when it did, I was really happy,” Da Silva said. “There we no hard feelings with Julian. In practice, we go back and forth, and at the end of the day, we are happy that one of us won.”
“I one hundred percent knew exactly how I was going to do and I’m happy with it,” said Granison, who won the 50 free (20.11) and was also a member of the two gold medal relay teams. “My team is always number one, so I, of course, knew we would get first.”
Sarasota High captured its fourth boys title in the past five years with 231 points. Wellington had 169. Defending champion Cypress Bay was 10th with 69 points.
“They worked together toward this goal,” said veteran Wellington coach Richard Whalen, who just finished his 20th season. “Julian Granison and Andreas Da Silva set these goals after the last state meet. They originally did not think they would swim the same event (100 free), and they both wanted to win two individual events and two relays.”
Boca Raton sophomore Caleb Caperone took fourth in the 200 IM (49.93) and fifth in the 100 breast (57.06).
Spanish River sophomore Rydan Russell finished runner-up in the boys’ diving with 510.10 points. It was his state championship debut since moving here in the summer from Ohio. Spanish River junior Matthew Brisson was third (462.20) and Cypress Bay junior Jacob Drysdale was fourth (403.60).
“It was a little bit of an adjustment,” said Russell, who was 10 points behind Hagerty senior Noah Stasik (520.95). “It’s a lot different down here. It was great (competing). It was a great pool and a lot of good energy.”
Taravella sophomore Cole Youngblood won both the 50- and 100-yard events for swimmers with disabilities. He dropped a second in the 50 (31.60) and then 0.68 in the 100 (1:13.17). This is only Youngblood’s second year of high school swimming. He is the third local swimmer with disabilities to sweep the state championships in a week – joining Oxbridge Academy’s Gabi Farinas and Coral Springs Charter’s Faith Moberg.
“I am so excited, and this was fun,” said Youngblood, who is autistic and intellectually disabled. He started with Taravella coach Candy Allen, who teaches students with special needs. “I won two medals for the state championship. Swimming makes me happy, and I like to be part of the team.”
“He has broken through so many barriers in life, and this is just one more for so many people,” said his mother, Amy, a former three-sport athlete at FAU. “He really shows everyone what hard work is, and he doesn’t give up. Candy does so much for the community and has accepted so many athletes into her program.”
Jupiter junior and Michigan commit Charles “Bud” Howard won the 200 free (1:37.16) and was second in the 100 fly (47.00) as he lost on the touch to Sarasota senior Bogdan Zverev (46.99). Howard shaved 1.11 seconds off his previous best time in the 1.49 in the fly. Zverev beat his PR by 2.67 seconds. Howard improved on last year’s finishes of eighth in both events.
“He (Zverev) sort of came out of nowhere and losing by 100th of a second stings a little bit, but that’s just the sport,” Howard said.
Boca Raton sophomore Caleb Caponera was fourth (1:49.93) in the boys’ 200 IM, and South Broward junior Alexandru Ivanof finished third in the 100 breast (55.76). South Broward senior Tajhari Williams was fifth (51.03) in the 100 back. Williams also took seventh in the 50 free (21.22).
Pocker wins 3A boys state diving title
West Pocker walked away from the sport two years ago and came all the way back to win the Class 3A 1-meter diving championship by a large margin on Saturday morning.
The Fort Lauderdale junior scored 563.40 points to easily outdistance runner-up Donovan Lawrence from Miami Pace (407.55 points). It’s the first time Pocker has cracked the 500-point barrier. He also helped the school sweep the state diving titles, following L’s senior Hayden Ferenc winning the girls championship hours earlier.
“Last year I had just come back to diving after almost exactly one year,” said Pocker, who had dived for seven years. He finished seventh at state last season. “I kind of got started back and was getting the feel for diving again. I am more dedicated to the sport and training. … I picked a good time to get my best score, and to sweep boys and girls diving at state is really cool. It’s a first for the school.”
No Broward or Palm Beach teams finished higher than 23rd.
