Parkersburg South’s Quade Harris competes in the 200 freestyle during Friday’s state swim meet in Morgantown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Friday afternoon during the final heats at Mylan Park Aquatic Center, the Patriots did not win one individual nor relay title, but had the quality athletes in the pool which resulted in a 10-point margin of victory over Bridgeport (134-124).

“This a true testament to what we are about – we do things differently than anyone else in the state,” South coach Ryan Radcliff said. “All of our kids swim for us throughout the season according to the WVSSAC, and that’s not the case for teams around the state. They don’t swim with teams except for club coaches.

“We just proved that’s not the cookie-cutter style that we want to have. We go against the grain – we get multi-sport athletes who are hard workers. They come in everyday and grind. It’s just proof that Parkersburg South swimming is a special place.”

For Parkersburg, the final event of the day was a carbon copy of how the morning session turned out for the girls in the 400 free relay. Seeded eighth in the consolation heat, the Big Red boys cut five seconds off their prelim time and improved one place in the projected finish by taking seventh in a time of 3:32.99.

Parkersburg’s Carty Ramsay swims the breaststroke during Friday’s state swim meet in Morgantown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“I have a lot of respect for (PHS senior Garrett Colvin) and it was his last race, so we just said ‘go for it’ – that kind of shocked me a little bit,’ Ramsay said. “I’m proud of what we did this season. We didn’t have any state champions, but we are pretty good.”

In the team standings, PHS placed seventh with 82 points. Of the three Big Red entries in the championship heats, Lucian Baumgartner and Ramsay placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 500 freestyle, and Ian Sasyn finished third in 100 breaststroke.

The remaining two Big Red relays took sixth in the 200 medley relay, and ninth in the 200 freestyle relay.

“Not an entire performance this week has been disappointing,” PHS coach Emily Martin said. “Today’s message to the boys was to just go have fun. We put so much pressure on ourselves at these meets and we knew going in we didn’t mathematically have a shot at a state championship.

“I just said, go have fun. Go race. This is what this is all about. That’s why we are here in the first place. Give me the best you’ve and they absolutely did that. I think that brought out the best in them.”

The Parkersburg South boys swim team celebrates after winning the state championship Friday. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Before boys the meet commenced, the South coaching staff pulled the swimmers aside for a lengthy private meeting to make sure everyone was on the same page.

“On Thursday, we stressed to the guys how important it was to get off to a good start,” Radcliff said. “So today was all about maintaining that. They all did what they needed to do.”

The celebratory gathering in the pool, which included Radcliff along with his assistants Jim Pursley and Don Bailey. Pursley and Bailey also assisted on the 2016 state championship team when Radcliff was just getting his feet wet with the South program.

“I just got out of college and started helping (head coach Steve Lutz), Don and Jim, so I was a little part of that then. I could not have done it without Don and Jim – they care so much about the kids.”

South’s advantage over the rest of the field was the fact no other school was represented in the championship heat in all three heats. Also, the Patriots qualified six individuals for the A finals, including breaststroker Andrew Kirk and backstroker Quade Harris who set school records in their respective events during the two-day event.

Harris placed second in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 200 freestyle, while Kirk was fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

“This state championships probably ranks at the very top of what I’ve done with swimming,” Harris said. “Team captain Jackson Dearth was a huge support. Before each of us came up to swim, he would give us kind of a motivational speech. He helped us in so many ways.”

Also in the A finals, Dearth placed sixth in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. Kirk was fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

In the consolation finals, Landon Fowler took 10th in the 200 individual medley and seventh in the 100 breaststroke. Anthony Ott finished sixth in the 100 backstroke.

The 200 medley relay, the first event of the session, set the tone for South – jumping one spot into second place. The Patriots’ 200 freestyle relay also placed runner-up.

The lone hiccup suffered by South resulted in the 200 freestyle relay – the final event of the day.

“Kind of already looking ahead and what we need to do to put the pieces together,” Radcliff said. “Keep developing these kids, and turning them into good people and good athletes.”

Competing in the consolation heats for PHS were Ethan Metz (seventh in the 200 freestyle), Ramsay (seventh in the 200 individual medley), and Sasyn (10th in the 200 individual medley)