Mosley sweeps county swimming/diving meet

PANAMA CITY BEACH - Arnold's swim team knew coming in to this weekend's Bay County Swim and Dive Meet that Mosley was the clear-cut favorite. The Marlins, however, thought they could make some waves at the Frank Brown Park Aquatic Center.

That was until the meet was rescheduled from Thursday to Saturday because of rain and Arnold lost 14 of its swimmers, including one of the county's top boys, Cody Bronnenberg, to prior obligations.

While Mosley coasted to first place in both the boys and girls meets, Arnold put up a fight. They needed split-seconds to do so, however.

"We were not really as competitive as we wanted to be," Arnold coach Rock Snow said. "It was unfortunate for us, but I'm really proud with the kids that were here."

Arnold divers Roger Williams and Julia Stephenson won their competitions, with scores of 378.35 and 341.60, respectively. Williams won by .35 of a point over Mosley's Garret Casey. Besides diving, Arnold swept the 50-yard freestyle races. Katie Branham won the girls with a time of 25.79 seconds, three-tenths of a second faster than Mosley's Candace Hilton. Chris Miner won the boys race in 23.54 seconds.

Overall, Mosley captured all but five events Saturday.
The Dolphins' boys won the meet by almost 600 points. They tallied 923 points compared to Arnold in second place with 379. Rutherford was third with 278 and Bay was fourth with 277.

The girls standings mirrored the boys, but they were closer. Mosley finished first with 765 points, followed by Arnold's 628, Rutherford's 329 and Bay's 173.

"Everyone swam quite well and I believe it's a good warm up for districts," Mosley coach Steve Burdeshaw said.
The only other race won by someone other than a Dolphin was the girls' 200 freestyle. Rutherford freshman Laura Kearns won the event in 2:05.97, more than 4 seconds faster than Mosley's Mary McDermott.

"We broke a lot of personal records today," Rutherford coach George Klug said. "We would probably have had worst times if we swam in the rain on Thursday. It was a good decision."

• Team scores:
  Boys
  Mosley 923
  Arnold 379
  Rutherford 278
  Bay 277
• Girls
  Mosley 765
  Arnold 328
  Rutherford 329
  Bay 173