Waccamaw’s Sullivan, pair of Myrtle Beach girls relays claim gold at state swim meet
Patrick Sullivan didn’t get carried away with the hype.
He certainly lived up to it, though.
The Waccamaw junior won both the 50-yard freestyle (21.73 seconds) and 100-yard freestyle and helped the Warriors’ 200-yard relay team to a gold medal at the Class AAA state swim meet on Saturday at USC Natatorium in Columbia.
“Patrick has been a very consistent swimmer. Very driven. Self-motivated. Team captain,” Waccamaw coach David Dear said. “He shows up for the big meets. I think he looked at the whole season real realistically. He didn’t get carried away with the hype. He quietly went to work and did his thing. We’re just really proud of him.”
Sullivan was joined by John Crosby, Jonah Crosby and Sean King on the triumphant relay team, and the same quartet teamed up to place third in the 200-yard medley relay (1:43.38). John Crosby finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle to help Waccamaw finish fifth as a team.
“It was just a team effort,” Dear said. “They’ve had great camaraderie all season and it paid off at states today.”
The Myrtle Beach girls also had a big day, winning a pair of relays and finishing sixth as a team. The Seahawks’ Olivia McGonigal, Danielle Flaherty, Kennedy Drew and Catherine Miller teamed up to win the 200-yard medley (1:53.22) and 200-yard freestyle (1:43.85) relays.
“They sold out today for the relays,” Myrtle Beach coach Kirk Gallion said. “They were emotionally invested in the relays. … In terms of relays, we couldn’t have done better. Our girls were wanting to be champions and they put on just a gritty, grimey kind of (performance). … That’s what everyone wants to win is the relays.”
Individually, McGonigal placed third in the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.19) and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle (55.78) and Drew finished third in the 100-yard freestyle (55.54).
On the boys side, Isaiah Ivey (22.47) and Sean McGonigal (23.09) finished second and third, respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle as the Seahawks had a combined seven podium finishes. Ivey also placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke (57.23) and Myrtle Beach’s 200-yard freestyle relay team (Ivey, Nestor Llanot, Vincent Goduto, Sean McGonigal) finished fifth (1:34.68).
“It was just a really great way to wrap up the season,” Myrtle Beach coach Kirk Gallion said. “It was a historic day again.”
Waccamaw’s girls also had a historic day. Emma Sullivan placed fifth in the 500-yard freestyle (5:25.12) and the 200-yard freestyle relay team (Hannan Mackey, Abby Darnell, Victoria Marinoff and Sullivan) finished ninth (1:50.18) as the school’s first girls relay team to qualify for state.
“We’re very proud of the boys and the girls,” Dear said.
St. James’ Casey Mitchell placed fifth in both the 500-yard freestyle (5:04.93) and 100-yard backstroke (57.54).
The Sharks finished 11th, North Myrtle Beach was 15th, Waccamaw was 16th in the girls standings. Myrtle Beach finished 10th, North Myrtle Beach was 13th, St. James was 17th and Georgetown was 26th in the boys standings.
Class AAAA
In Class AAAA, Socastee’s Eddie Bateson (50-yard freestyle, third, 22.07; 100-yard breaststroke, sixth, 1:00.19) and Chad Bateson (200-yard individual medley relay, ninth, 2:02.72) earned top-10 finishes.
This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Waccamaw’s Sullivan, pair of Myrtle Beach girls relays claim gold at state swim meet."