Frontier's Hughey captures area's lone individual girls' title
| Saturday, May 16 2009 10:01 PM
Last Updated Saturday, May 16 2009 10:01 PM
PORTERVILLE -- It was no pressure, no problem for Frontier senior swimmer Stevie Hughey on Saturday at the Central Section Championships.
Hughey won the section title in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal-record 1:08.49 at Granite Hills High School, shaking off an early, dramatically narrow loss in the 50 freestyle and any other stress.
"I don't really put pressure on myself, because then I don't swim as well," Hughey said.
Hughey, a senior, was second in the 50 free by .03 seconds, 24.34 to a 24.31 from Clovis West's Mariah Tharp.
"But second's not bad," Hughey said.
Plus, she rebounded and led wire-to-wire in the 100 breaststroke, in which she had the best time all year and never appeared in danger of losing -- though she wouldn't tell it that way.
"I never really felt that in control until I was finished," Hughey said. "It was exciting. I really wanted to finish that way."
Though Hughey was the only girls champion from Kern County, Stockdale managed to take third place in the team standings anyway, scoring 211.5 points to edge Clovis-Buchanan (200) for third. Clovis West rolled to its 13th straight girls title with 425.5 points to Clovis East's 239.
Still, the third-place girls finish is Stockdale's best since it took second in 2005, and, when paired with the Mustang boys' third place, it's the best Stockdale has done under coaches Adam and Elyse Bledsoe.
"They're terrific coaches," senior Dan Wickensheimer said. "Everyone puts all the attention on club coaches, but (the Bledsoes) are easily some of the best coaches in this area."
The girls scored big points with seven top-10 finishes, including top-five finishes by all three relay teams. Sara Ramos was second in the 100 butterfly (57.98) and third in the 100 backstroke (1:01.06), and Tiffanie Boe, Olivia Ramos and Emily Myers also contributed top-10 individual performances.
"It was the number of girls that qualified and made it to the top 16," Adam Bledsoe said. "None got first place, but we have really good depth on the girls side."
The Mustangs should be back next year, too -- Olivia Ramos and Boe are seniors, but everyone else is back, and all three relays had at least two sophomores.
Hughey's performances helped Frontier to 103 team points and eighth place, and Bakersfield High was ninth with 84.5. Brooke Shuford was third in the 100 breaststroke for the Drillers.
East High senior Karlee Grundeis was third in the 200 IM and eighth in the 500 freestyle.
