Swimming, wrestling and basketball, oh my! Gwinnett County was the place to be for championships last week as wrestling state titles were doled out at the Gwinnett Arena and two Gwinnett county schools celebrated swim titles. In basketball, several teams also claimed region titles in Class 5A and 2A.
The Brookwood Bronco boys claimed their third straight 5A state swimming title with 241 points to distance itself from second-place Peachtree Ridge’s 193. While it was Brookwood’s third straight, it marked the 11th straight year a Gwinnett school has won the Class 5A title. The Broncos won just one individual event, the 200 freestyle relay, but it was enough as the Broncos had enough depth to take home the title. Conor Sweeney, Robbie Swan, Ken Bolton, Aidan Sweeney, Michael Trice and Thomas Nguyen all starred for the Broncos with Swan, Trice and the two Sweeneys earning an automatic All-American time in the 200 freestyle relay. Luke Upchurch of Peachtree Ridge won four events, the 100 free, the 100 backstroke and two relays (200 medley and 400 freestyle). The second-place finish was the highest ever for the Lions. Other Gwinnett champions included North Gwinnett’s Eric Madden (100 butterfly), and Parkview’s Ricky Lehner (100 breaststroke). Parkview finished sixth in the meet while Collins Hill came in eighth, North Gwinnett was ninth and Mill Creek finished tenth.
In the girls Class 5A championships, Mill Creek was the highest finishing Gwinnett school, coming in third for the classification. Mill Creek was buoyed by Sommers Creed, who won the 500 freestyle and Rachael Dudley, the winner in the 100-yard butterfly. Lassiter won the title while Walton came in second but then two Gwinnett schools represented the county with Mill Creek edging Brookwood, which finished fourth. North Gwinnett’s Caroline Kenney won two individual state titles, her third straight 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle for the second straight year.
Greater Atlanta Christian’s swim teams had fine showings in the Class A-4A bracket with the boys winning the state title ahead of Wesleyan and the GAC girls coming in third in the state meet.
In wrestling, the story once again was Collins Hill. The Eagles won the school’s third straight traditional state title and claimed six individual state titles. Drew Ferguson (103), Bazell Partridge (112), TJ Mitchell (125), Joel Smith (145), Mac Bennett (189) and CJ Collins (215) all claimed the individual championships. For the Eagles, 12 wrestlers qualified for the medal rounds and the earned two third-place finishes, one fourth place and three fifth place finishes. Other individual wrestlers made news at the championships with Peachtree Ridge freshman Tsvetomir Petrushev claiming the individual title at the 152-pound level and Central Gwinnett’s Jacob Aiken-Phillips capping a 61-0 season with his 52nd pin for a win in the 285-pound classification. Aiken-Phillips won the first title for Central Gwinnett since 1997. In Class A, Wesleyan had two champions, Zack Rindik (119) and Josh Tolman (145).
HOOPS HEATING UP …
Finally, basketball region action saw some exciting finishes in Gwinnett County. In Region 7-AAAAA, Mill Creek’s girls won their third straight region title as Alicia Brookins tipped in an offensive rebound as time expired to beat Norcross 55-54. Moneshia Simmons was named tournament MVP after pocketing 17 points and 16 rebounds. For Norcross, Diamond DeShields finished with 18 points, eight steals, and seven rebounds but fouled out. Briana Jordan had 16 points in the loss for the Blue Devils and Alex DeMercy had 11 points.
For the boys in Region 7-AAAAA the Blue Devils crunched Peachtree Ridge 68-57 behind 23 points from Jeremy Lamb and 15 points from Marty Johnson. Norcross ran out to a 19-0 run to begin the second quarter and held the Lions to just four points in the second frame. Peachtree Ridge was led by CJ Blackwell’s 15 points. In boys Region 8-AAAAA action, Meadowcreek looked strong early in the tournament, blowing out Parkview 81-53 behind Terrance Glass’s 21 points, but against Central Gwinnett, the Mustangs were outgunned. Jordan Adams and Brian Williams combined for 51 points in the region final to help the Black Knights win 73-69. Adams had 31 to finish off an impressive tournament that saw him score 16 against Grayson. Williams, who had 18 points against the Rams, notched 20 points against the Mustangs.
For the girls in Region 8-AAAAA, Parkview wrapped up an undefeated regular season with a 75-57 win over Brookwood for the region crown. Parkview finished the regular season 28-0 thanks to Lauren Coleman’s 24 points, though four other Panthers finished in double digits in the title game. Parkview led by 20 at halftime thanks to a 16-0 run late in the second quarter. Brookwood was sparked by Jazmine Jackson’s 17 points and Katie Mallow’s 15. Earlier in the tournament against South Gwinnett, the pair combined for 48 points in the team’s 77-45 win over the Comets.
Proctor can be reached at fproctor@scoreatl.com.
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