By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

Swimmers from Elkin, Starmount, Forbush, Surry Central and North Wilkes high schools will seek to be the best in the West this Friday.

Or at the least be among the top 12.

A select group from those five Yadkin Ripple/Tribune area schools will compete in the 1A/2A Western Regional swim meet at the Huntersville Family Fitness and Aquatic Center. The top 12 swims in each event qualify for the upcoming state championships on Feb. 13 in Cary.

The Tri-County area should fare well against regional competition.

The girls 50-yard freestyle event could feature a 1-2-3 finish involving local competitors. Elkin’s Lakenn Reynolds, Starmount’s Kimberly Benton and Surry Central’s Lyncee Kowalcik hold the top three seeds, respectively.

Reynolds, a senior, won a state championship in the 50 free last winter, outdueling then-senior Julianna Prim of Starmount. Her entry time of 25.17 is about a second faster than Benton’s and about 1.5 seconds faster than Kowalcik’s.

Reynolds also is seeded first in the 100 free, another event she won in last year’s 1A/2A state meet. This event could be a runaway, with Reynolds’ seed time more than two seconds faster than anyone else.

Elkin sophomore Sarah Singleton also is favored to win two events. She has the quickest seed time in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.

Reynolds and Singleton could bring home three or four medals. Both likely will swim on Elkin’s 200 medley and 400 free relays. The 200 medley team is seeded first, while the 200 free team has the fourth fastest entry time.

Reynolds and Singleton took home four gold medals from the recent conference meet, counting individual events and relays.

Forbush’s Adam West has his sights set on a medal in the 100 butterfly. The conference champion has the second-fastest seed time in the event of 59.91. Peter Brumm of Lake Norman Charter will be tough to unseat for gold. His entry time of 52.95 has him on the verge of All-America consideration.

No one else in the regional field has a time under 1:00.

Several area swimmers are in line to make the state meet and score points for their respective school in the region standings.

Starmount’s Benton has the fifth-fastest entry time in the 100 backstroke.

Surry Central’s Kirstin Gardner could challenge for a medal in the 100 free. She’s seeded fourth. Golden Eagle teammate Allee Taylor is listed sixth in the 100 breaststroke as well as 12th in the 200 IM. Granath Musson is seeded seventh in the boys 100 breaststroke.

Surry Central should fare well in girls relays. All three of the Golden Eagles’ teams are seeded third.

Elkin sophomore Cory Eaton could finish top six in two events. He has a strong seed in the 200 IM (sixth) and 100 butterfly (fourth). The Buckin’ Elks will field a 200 medley relay team, which is seeded fifth.

The Forbush boys are looking to put all three of their relays in the top eight, with the 200 free team seeded the highest at fourth. Micah West has the No. 7 seed time in the 100 backstroke. Stephanie Pittman is listed eighth in the 100 free. Taylor Waddell has the ninth-fastest seed time in the boys 100 fly.

North Wilkes has one swimmer in the field, Olivia Shumate. She could reach the state meet in both the 100 backstroke (No. 9 seed) and 100 breaststroke (14th seed).

Races will begin just after 11 a.m. on Friday. In case of wintry weather — more is predicted for sometime this weekend — the meet may be cancelled and not made up.

The 1A/2A state meet will be held next Saturday, Feb. 13 at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. NC State hosted previous state championships, but the meet was moved to help accommodate the overflow crowds that have been present the past couple of years.