Fort Mill High School won the South Carolina High School League Girls 5A State Swimming Championship on Thursday, Oct. 8, at the University of South Carolina, scoring 491.5 points to finish 19.5 points ahead of Eastside.
Rock Hill High School placed seventh with 156 points, giving York County two teams in the top seven of a 26 team field. Gray Collegiate Academy was third with 289.5 points, followed by J.L. Mann (269), Chapin (184) and Mauldin (167). River Bluff finished eighth, five points behind Rock Hill.
Relays decide a close team race
The team title came down to the relays, where winners earned double points. Fort Mill won two of the three.
Fort Mill opened its relay sweep chances with a win in the 200 medley relay, finishing in 1:46.31, nearly two seconds ahead of Eastside’s 1:48.21. Taeryn Kim led off on backstroke, followed by Haruka Ono on breaststroke, Julia Corbi on butterfly and Emma Michael on freestyle.
Eastside answered in the 200 freestyle relay, touching in 1:38.73 to hold off Fort Mill by 0.20 seconds. Kim, Lila Hadley, Delaney Michael and Corbi swam 1:38.93 for second.
The closing 400 freestyle relay was tighter still. Delaney Michael, Emma Michael, Ono and Hadley won in 3:36.22, 0.24 seconds ahead of Eastside. Fort Mill scored 138 relay points to Eastside’s 132.
Emma Michael wins two individual titles
Emma Michael was Fort Mill’s only individual event winner, and she won twice. She took the 200 freestyle in 1:54.16, edging Spring Valley’s Farrah Ballouli by 0.16 seconds, then won the 500 freestyle in 5:09.02, more than four seconds ahead of Gray Collegiate’s Leighton Maxfield.
Ono finished second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.76, behind J.L. Mann’s Claire Burns, and third in the 200 individual medley in 2:08.94. Corbi was second in the 200 individual medley in 2:07.17, one spot ahead of Ono, and fifth in the 100 butterfly. Hadley placed third in the 100 freestyle in 53.77 and fifth in the 100 breaststroke.
Fort Mill’s depth showed in the events just off the podium. Delaney Michael finished fourth in both the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Kim tied Eastside’s Lauren York for fifth in the 50 freestyle at 24.74 and placed sixth in the 100 freestyle.
Fort Mill put scoring swimmers in all eight individual events, with four scorers each in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke. In the 500 freestyle, Maci Hightower, Murray Porter and Lilian Lindgren finished seventh, ninth and 10th behind Emma Michael.
Rock Hill finishes seventh
Rock Hill did not have a top three finish but scored in six individual events and all three relays.
The Bearcats’ best relay was the 200 medley relay, where Miriam Ghent, Lydia Ghent, Olivia Newport and Sophia McCall placed fifth in 1:53.36. Miriam Ghent finished fifth in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.23 and 10th in the 100 freestyle. Lydia Ghent placed fifth in the 200 individual medley in 2:14.15 and seventh in the 100 breaststroke.
Newport added a 12th place finish in the 100 butterfly and 17th in the 50 freestyle. The 200 freestyle relay finished eighth in 1:42.33.
Complete meet results are available here.
Fort Mill Results
50 freestyle: 5. Taeryn Kim 24.74 (tie); 22. Agne Zilinskaite 25.97; 23. Isabelle Byerly 25.98
100 freestyle: 3. Lila Hadley 53.77; 6. Taeryn Kim 54.24; 18. Isabella Sorenson 56.87; 23. Agne Zilinskaite 58.35
200 freestyle: 1. Emma Michael 1:54.16; 4. Delaney Michael 1:56.80; 12. Molly Egan 2:02.27; 14. Isabella Sorenson 2:02.73
500 freestyle: 1. Emma Michael 5:09.02; 7. Maci Hightower 5:25.28; 9. Murray Porter 5:29.41; 10. Lilian Lindgren 5:30.38
100 backstroke: 11. Molly Egan 1:02.24; 12. Caylin Charnas 1:02.25; 18. Lilian Lindgren 1:03.53; 20. Madeline Romero 1:04.31
100 breaststroke: 2. Haruka Ono 1:03.76; 5. Lila Hadley 1:07.02; 27. Elise Chwastiak 1:14.26; DQ Lauren Wetmore
100 butterfly: 4. Delaney Michael 56.89; 5. Julia Corbi 57.79; 9. Isabelle Byerly 1:00.99; 21. Flora Hadley 1:04.34
200 individual medley: 2. Julia Corbi 2:07.17; 3. Haruka Ono 2:08.94; 8. Gwen Tanis 2:16.51; 21. Flora Hadley 2:22.55
200 medley relay: 1. Fort Mill 1:46.31 (Taeryn Kim, Haruka Ono, Julia Corbi, Emma Michael)
200 freestyle relay: 2. Fort Mill 1:38.93 (Taeryn Kim, Lila Hadley, Delaney Michael, Julia Corbi)
400 freestyle relay: 1. Fort Mill 3:36.22 (Delaney Michael, Emma Michael, Haruka Ono, Lila Hadley)
Rock Hill Results
50 freestyle: 17. Olivia Newport 25.75
100 freestyle: 10. Miriam Ghent 54.97
200 freestyle: 28. Julia Koellner 2:09.64
500 freestyle: 24. Julia Koellner 5:46.15
100 backstroke: 5. Miriam Ghent 1:00.23; 30. Sophia McCall 1:08.50
100 breaststroke: 7. Lydia Ghent 1:08.10
100 butterfly: 12. Olivia Newport 1:02.04
200 individual medley: 5. Lydia Ghent 2:14.15
200 medley relay: 5. Rock Hill 1:53.36 (Miriam Ghent, Lydia Ghent, Olivia Newport, Sophia McCall)
200 freestyle relay: 8. Rock Hill 1:42.33 (Lydia Ghent, Sophia McCall, Miriam Ghent, Olivia Newport)
400 freestyle relay: 15. Rock Hill 4:02.64 (Maggie Compton, Julia Koellner, Katherine Sandu, Abigail Cassidy)
Source: Official results, 2026 SCHSL Girls 5A State Championships
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
