The Beaufort Academy swim team opened its season Saturday at the Palmetto Christian Invitational, where the Eagles’ boys finished sixth and the girls were ninth in the team standings.
Junior James Hart was the top scorer for BA’s boys, while Italian exchange student Michela Giannini was the top scorer for the girls. Hart hit state qualifying standards in the 200 IM and 100 freestyle, and Giannini qualified in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly.
Other state qualifiers for the Eagles were sophomore Ashton Bell (100 free, 100 back), junior Lawrence Lindsay (200 free, 100 free), eighth-grader Emma Grace Dinkins (50 free), sophomore Jenny Harry (50 free), junior Hannah Ackerman (100 free), and seventh-grader Katherine Taylor (100 breast).
The Eagles claimed top-10 finishes in five relays, including a runner-up showing in the girls 400 free relay by Harry, Dinkins, Ackerman, and Riley Gates. The boys 400 free relay of Nigel Bell, Jeffery Rushing, Miles Spratling, and Alex Roberts finished fourth, and the boys 200 medley relay of Ashton Bell, Joseph Patterson, Hart, and Lindsay was fifth.
The Eagles’ next meet is against Bluffton and May River on Sept. 26 at the Bluffton Indoor Pool.
