If the first meet is any indication, Douglas County Stingrays coach Judy Prokopiak has good reason to believe it could be stellar 2012 season for several swimmers.

In the first meet of the new season, the Stingrays had four swimmers win their age group at the Lanier Aquatics Fall Pentathlon last weekend in Gainesville, Ga. This was the team's first competition since late July when it competed in the state championships.

"For our first meet since the end of July, I was happy with our swimmers racing efforts," Prokopiak said. "We had a number of best times, even though we have been training quite hard."

Abby Freeman (13), Kamaria Mahone (14), Lindsay Dowling (15) and Arshad Crepsac (11) each won their respective age group. Mahone, a freshman at Chapel Hill High School, was the only Stingray swimmer to win all five of her events. She won the 200 Individual Medley, 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and the 100 freestyle.

"It was great getting back to competition after a layoff," Mahone said. "Hopefully this is a good sign that I will have a good season. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season."
Freeman was first in the 200 IM, 100 fly and 100 breast in the 13-year-old age group.

Dowling, a sophomore at Alexander High School, was first in the 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast and 100 free. She was disqualified in the 200 IM, but still took first in the 15-and-over age group.

Crepsac won the 50 fly and 50 back events and was runner up in the 50 free and 100 IM. He took third in the 50 breast to win the 11-year-old age group.

Placing second in their age groups were Kayla Herron in the 15-and-over, Lauryn Florentino in the 11-year-old, and Riley Scruggs in the 11-year-old age groups.

While Prokopiak was proud of the effort by her advance swimmers, she was equally as impressive with novice swimmer Makenzie Monroe. The six-year-old swam in only her second meet of her young career.

Monroe placed third in the 25 breast and was 11th in both the 25 back and 25 free with personal-best times.

"She did it with a smile the whole way down the pool," Prokopiak said.
All 15 swimmers that attended the one-day meet had at least one top-10 finish.

"We can see where we need to go to from here for each swimmer," Prokopiak said. "We are looking forward to a season of fast swimming working towards the spring state championship season."