SWIMMING: Dixie Heights riding wave of momentum at Region 4 swimming meet

**Stardust** · 02-09-2012, 09:18 AM

Wednesdayâs boysâ regional swimming preliminaries at Scott kicked off a four-day stretch that the Dixie Heights swimming and diving teams hope will culminate in a best-ever finish at the Region 4 meet under 11-year coach Ed Cook, who has positioned the Colonels as the team to beat in the combined standings.

âIt would be very cool to win the combined because thatâs all of us; boys, girls and divers,â Dixie Heights senior swimmer Cole Garriott said. âIt would be a great way to round out my high school career.â

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Garriott, the No.1 seed in the 100-yard freestyle and No.2 in the 200 individual medley, and Evan Dulaney, the No.2 seed in both the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle, are Dixieâs only seniors. They breezed through preliminary races, continuing Dixie momentum that has been building since the Colonels won Januaryâs combined championship at the conference meet for the first time under Cook. Garriott was the lone boy finishing Wednesdayâs 100 freestyle preliminary race in fewer than 50 seconds, with a time of 49.62. Dulaney finished second in both the 100 butterfly and 200 free.

âWith them, obviously the leadership they bring is important,â Cook said. âCole has been swimming his whole life and heâs going into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point after he graduates. Heâs a real leader for us, a real character guy who helps us in a lot of ways.â

Cook in December completed nearly a year of duty in Iraq for the Army National Guard at Victory Base Complex in Baghdad. He had not seen his team since last yearâs state meet, where the Dixie boys finished ninth. Garriott said Cookâs safe return fired up the team, and theyâve been riding a wave of good vibes.

âIt was kind of cool when I was thinking about the Army and knowing someone who followed a similar path,â Garriott said of Cook. âHeâs been extremely supportive and weâve had just a great year.â

Dixie enjoyed its best boysâ finish of second place under Cook and its highest placing as runner-up in the combined team standings at the Scott Eagle Classic in December and returned to the conference meet where the Colonelsâ boys again finished runner-up to CovCath but won the combined championship for the first time in more than two decades. âTheyâve had us in their sights for a while,â CovCath coach Richard Dickmann said.

Other top Dixie swimmers include juniors Chris Schoettker, Davis Hanna and Connor Bright, sophomore Eric Huffman, and freshmen Trey Zimmerman and Ethan Poweleit. Sophomore diver Bailey Harrison is the regionâs No. 3 seed and junior Matt Brownfield is the Colonelsâ second diver.

Winning the combined regional title wonât be easy. Runner-up Highlands finished just 6.5 points behind the Colonels at the conference meet and defending regional combined champion Beechwood was 8.5 behind in third.

âWeâve yet to show what we can really do,â Cook said. âWeâve got a deep team ... and My expectation at state is qualifying in every event for the boys and finishing in the top five. And we have some girls who will surprise.â

Regional girlsâ swimming preliminaries begin at 5 p.m. Thursday. Boysâ and girlsâ diving is Friday, starting at 5. Swimming finals begin at 3 p.m. Saturday. The top two finishers in each swimming event and the top two divers from each of the five regional meets, plus the top 22 non-qualifiers make it to the state championships Feb. 23-25 in Louisville.

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