BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School’s Eva Whitehead earned top-five finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley at the Oct. 29 District 1-1A meet at Jacksonville’s Episcopal High School.
Whitehead will swim in both events at the Tuesday, Nov. 5, Region 1 meet, which will be held at The Bolles School in Jacksonville.
The junior swam her way to a third-place finish in the 200 IM with a time of 2:06.53, which left her trailing two swimmers from Bolles: Ella Gotham, who had a time of 2:05.10, and Lucero Mejia Arce, who had a time of 2:05.76.
Those three swimmers had the fastest district times in all of Class 1A.
Whitehead bettered her postseason performance in the event from last year by almost 4 seconds, which she swam at the regional level.
In the 100 breaststroke, Whitehead swam a fifth-place time of 1:06.45.
Whitehead, who went undefeated in the regular season, was the only swimmer from a public school in the top 10 in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM.
Courtney Manning, a first-year swimmer, also competed for Union this season. At the district meet, the freshman placed 26th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 35.35 and 27th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:20.43.
Whitehead is in position to swim her way to state for the third straight year. Besides having the third-best 200 IM time in Class 1A, she has the 11th-best 100 breaststroke time.
To advance to state, a swimmer must earn a top-two finish at the regional level or receive an at-large berth. Each event will have 16 at-large qualifiers.
