AUGUSTA, Ga. – It was only two seconds. The margin of victory for the Lakeside girls swim team’s victory in the 400m free relay at the Georgia High School Association’s 5A Region 2 championship meet was as close as the relationship of the competing swimmers in the water.
The Lakeside team’s winning time of 3:47:18 was just enough to edge out their counterparts from their Columbia County rivals, Greenbrier High School, with a finishing time of 3:49:41. Lakeside won the competition with a point total of 586, to top Greenbrier’s 582.
But the eight swimmers in the water, four from each team, are teammates most of the year with the Aiken / Augusta Swim League. They practice together almost year-round at the Augusta Aquatics center for the AASL. And they are all close friends. On Friday, February 5 at the GHSA state championship swim meet on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, they will once again be rivals in the pool.
AASL sim coach Adam Sasso has 38 swimmers in his senior division, and 28 of them compete with local Georgia high schools. The eight that will go head-to-head in the 400m free relay for the two rival Columbia County schools know each other well.
Lakeside’s Holly Chafin, Anna Claire Parvainen, Serra Ayden and Katy Older will represent the Panthers. Their AASL teammates and friends, Lauren Sidow, Rebecca Martini, Ashley Williamson and Ellen Johnson will be swimming for the Greenbrier Wolfpack. The girls say their friendship and yearlong practice as teammates in AASL only adds to the competition when they dive in as rivals representing their high schools.
