James Wood’s Babington Places Second At 4A State Swim Meet

Posted: February 21, 2015
From Star staff reports

CHRISTIANSBURG — If the goal of every swimmer is to post their fastest time in the biggest race of the season, Conor Babington did just that Friday evening.

The James Wood senior came into the Group 4A state swim meet seeded fourth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.20, and 10th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.47.

But after a scintillating afternoon prelims — 21.99 in the 50 free and 52.49 in the 100 fly — Babington found himself with the fastest posted times in both events.

And in the finals, Babington again dropped his time in each race, but unfortunately so did two other swimmers.

Despite touching the wall in 21.85 in the 50 free and 51.99 in the 100 fly, Babington placed second in both events.

Yet even though he came up short of a state title, the Colonel senior who plans to swim collegiately at either Old Dominion University or the Merchant Marine Academy next year was happy with his performance.

“I love racing,” Babington said. “It was just a lot of fun. I really surprised myself to be top-seeded for the finals in both [events]. I came in as the underdog. Going into the finals, I was the top dog.

“I ended up going faster in the finals than the semis. In the semifinals, I did really good, too. I went in third or fourth in the 50 free. Then, I came out eighth in finals. Ricardo [Bonilla-Vazquez of Kettle Run] won it last year and that was one of my goals to beat Ricardo. I beat Ricardo, but someone else beat me and Ricardo.”

Babington was the top local finisher, but he wasn’t alone in the pool.

Fellow Colonels Zoe Schopick (8th in the 200 individual medley, 2:26.64, and 11th in the 100 fly, 1:02.12), Sara Fergus (12th in the 50 free, 26.53), and Erin Jackson (100 backstroke, 1:04.51) all competed individually, and Schopick and Fergus teamed up with Lydia Sunderlin and Brooke Marcy to place 10th in the 200 free relay (1:49.18).

No other results were reported. Check back in Monday’s Winchester Star for full results from the 4A state swim meet.