PONTE VEDRA - A plethora of area swim teams; Oakleaf, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Middleburg and Ridgeview, finished up a strong district championship meet with one of the deepest fields in Florida and two defending state champions positioning themselves for a repeat.

Tops on the repeat list are Fleming Island senior freestyle specialist Maryn McDade, the defending two-time 50 free champion in 3A, who again won her specialty in true form with a 23.33 split outdistancing runner-up Ponte Vedra's Sophie Fox by more than one second.

McDade, with a 23.07 to win her second 3A title in a head-to-head duel with Ponte Vedra's Penelope Zarczynski last year, should cruise into the state meet as the top seed through regions which was set for Tues., Oct. 31 in Panama City. Zarczynski was second to McDade in the 3A 50 free final last year and won the 100 free with McDade fourth though Zarczynski swam in the 200 free and won the 100 butterfly in the district meet last week. McDade was second in the 100 free in 51.66 with Nease's Olivia Moore winning in 51.35.

Fleming Island's second defending state champion, junior diver Ava Brinkman, dominated her event with a 471.40 total ahead of Nease's Savanna Petrosevich who was runner-up with a 376.50.

In the team scores, though, Oakleaf's girl's team edged Fleming Island 179-177.5 for fifth place with Ponte Vedra dominating the top spot with 554.5 points ahead of Nease at 411.5. Orange Park was ninth at 50, Ridgeview 11th at 22 and Middleburg 12th at 12.

In the boy's team scores, Nease won at 477.5 ahead of Fletcher's 409.5 with Orange Park fourth at 183 and Fleming Island sixth at 121. Oakleaf finished ninth at 75, Middleburg 10th at 42 and Ridgeview 11th at 31.

Oakleaf's girls were led by junior Peyton Loving who finished second in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:08.16 split just a second off Nease's Alexis Petrosevich's 1:07.03. Loving was eighth in the 50 free with a 25.13 split with teammate Brylee Wood 15th in 26.98 adding to the Knights' point total.

In the meet's opening event, the 200 medley relay, Oakleaf's girl's team (Alexis Huxohl, Loving, Delicia Coleman and Jazzmine Moore) and Orange Park's boy's team (Braedy Holloway, Sebastian Lopez, Gavin Dobson and Aston Danninger) both finished strong with a fifth for the girls and a fourth for the boys to put both teams in the mix for top finishes.

Lopez led the Raider contingency with a third in a fast 100 free that had the top three finishers under 48 seconds. Lopez was third at 47.90 in a tight finish with Nease Walker Lanoue who won at 47.54 and Nease's Jack Mainville, runnerup at 47.66. Orange Park also had Danninger 10th at 51.59 with Fleming Island's Riley Fetzner 13th at 52.58.

Lopez came back nearly an hour later to blast a 1:01.61 in the 100 breaststroke for second place to Nease's Luke Zardavetz's 58.35. Dobson was 10th in 1:05.48.

In the boy's 50 free, Fleming Island's Reed Ely was the top area finisher in 23.46 for ninth with Danninger 15th.

Fleming Island sophomore Elizabeth Loehr got team points for the Eagles with a second in the 500 free and a fifth in the 200 free in 1:56.00 behind Ponte Vedra's Penelope Zarczyski who was McDade's main chaser last year in the 50 free.

Coleman finished fifth in the 100 fly for Oakleaf points with Orange Park's Gavin Dobson seventh in the boy's 100 fly ahead of Fleming Island's Dylan Ducut, who was 13th at the state meet in the 100 fly. Coleman was also ninth in the 200 individual medley.

Freshman William Shoesmith for Fleming Island finished a strong fourth in the 200 free in 1:47.17.

For Middleburg, top finishes came from Collin Pirner, 23rd in 100 free; freshman Landyn Johnson, 18th in 500 free; girls 200 free relays, 11th; boys 200 free relay, 9th; and boys 400 free relays (Pirner, Johnson, Tyler Crook and Sawyer Hampton) 7th in 400 free relays.

Ridgeview scored with an 11th in the girl's 200 medley relay, a 10th for the boy's 200 medley relay, Rileigh Smith, 19th in 100 fly, Connor Murphy, 17th in 100 fly, 12th in girls' 200 free relay and 10th in boys 200 free relay.