BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School’s Eva Whitehead continues to make a big splash each year in the sport of swimming, with her latest accomplishment winning the school’s first-ever championship at the regional level.
Whitehead, a junior, swam her way to the Region 1-1A title in the 200-yard individual medley on Nov. 5 at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, earning All-American status for her time and setting a new Bolles School pool record.
At the previous week’s District 1 meet, Whitehead placed third in the 200 IM behind Bolles swimmers Ella Gotham and Lucy Mejia Arce. She dropped four seconds from her time at the Region 1 meet, finishing with a time of 2:01.45. Gotham was second with a time of 2:03.20, while Arce was third with a time of 2:03.65.
The three swimmers have the fastest times in all of Class 1A and will enter the Friday, Nov. 15, state finals as the first, second and third seeds.
Whitehead had the fastest region-level time in all of the state’s classifications (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A). The closest swimmer to her was Brynn Lavigueur of Class 4A Sarasota Riverview, who had a time of 2:02.64.
At state, Whitehead will also compete in the 100-yard breaststroke after swimming a fourth-place (and personal-record) time of 1:03.93 at the Region 1 meet. That placed her ahead of Bolles swimmer Grace Higdon (1:04.86) and behind Bolles swimmers Victoria Edgar (1:02.19), Gracyn Lanning (1:02.39) and Savannah Branon (1:03.48).
At state, Whitehead will be the event’s sixth seed.
With UCHS never having had a swim team prior to 2022-23, Whitehead has, of course, given the school several firsts. In 2022, she became the first-ever UCHS student-athlete to qualify for the swimming state finals, which she has now done for three straight years. In 2023, she was the school’s first-ever district champion, winning two events at that year’s District 1 meet.
The state meet will be held at the Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training center at 4635 S.W. 67th Ave. in Ocala. Prelims will begin at 9 a.m., with the finals set for 5:30 p.m.
Admission is $13 per session in advance via gofan.co and $16 per session the day of the event. Sessions are prelims only, finals only and all-day.
Gates open approximately an hour prior to each session.
