Eagles heading to state

Published 7:00 pm Tuesday, November 27, 2018

The Goshen will be well-represented at the upcoming State Swim Meet in Auburn this weekend.

Three Eagles swimmers advanced to the sectional swim meet at Bishop State earlier this month.

Bryce Tatum, Addi Bruner and Dallas Daughtry competed and all three made the finals in Mobile.

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After the meet, it was Tatum and Bruner who advanced to state.

Tatum will compete in the 200-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle, while Bruner will compete in the 200-meter individual medley and the 100-meter breaststroke.

“They really worked hard and practiced well up to sectionals,” said head coach Shane Tatum. “When they went down there the result showed.”

All three swimmers had made prior trips to the sectional swim meet in years past, so they headed to Mobile with some added comfort and confidence.

“This year, they were going down there with a little bit of knowledge and experience of being in that type of experience,” Tatum said. “I don’t think the nerves played a factor. They swam the best they could and the times were the times.”

After taking last week off due to Thanksgiving, the Eagles have returned to the pool once again this week to prep for the upcoming swim meet.

“We have been practicing really hard since August and I gave them the week off for Thanksgiving to reenergize and refocus,” Tatum said. “We will practice on Monday, Tuesday and take Thursday off before heading to Auburn on Friday for the start of swim meet.”

The event will start with preliminaries on Friday. For those that make the finals, those will start on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.

Both swimmers made it to state last season. Bruner finished in third in both of her events at the state meet.

“Anytime you have experienced a state competition at a young age, I think it’s great,” Tatum said. “When you go back, those nerves are not really there. It’s all about competing then.”