Newton Citizen

FORT VALLEY - Rockdale swimming continued to make a big splash Saturday after finishing fifth overall at the Northside Eagle Invite.

Furthermore, it was the best finish at an invitational since Rockdale coach Stephen Sansing took over the program three years ago.

Hosted by Northside-Warner Robins at Fort Valley State University, the Rockdale girls took first place out of 18 teams, while the boys finished 10th.

For the girls, the Lady Bulldogs were in second place entering the final event (400-yard freestyle relay).

But soon the tides turned.

"Not only did our A team (Abbi Lewis, Emily Boyer, Patti Murphy and Katie Newman) get first place in the event in a bang-bang finish, but our B relay team (Miranda Wright, Molly Stover, Lauren Coursey and Rachael Ceciliani) placed fourth in the event, which vaulted us to the win," Sansing said.

In addition, the Rockdale girls 200-yard freestyle relay team - Melanie Wright, Miranda Wright, Murphy and Kelli Fair - qualified for the state swim meet in February with a time of 1 minute, 53 seconds.

Remarkably, they finished first in the event out of 34 relay teams.

The Rockdale girls 200-yard medley relay team took fifth out of 21 squads.

Miranda Wright finished second out of 14 in the girls 200-yard individual medley.

Melanie Wright took fifth out of 113 in the girls 50 freestyle. She also placed fourth out of 34 in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Rockdale's Abbi Lewis placed fourth out of 39 in the girls 100-yard backstroke.

For the boys, Rockdale's 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay each placed seventh overall.

Kari Logan took fifth place out of 40 in the boys 100-yard breaststroke.

Jason Murdock can be reached at jason.murdock@rockdalecitizen.com.