Parkersburg South's Levi Benton finished runner-up in the 500 freestyle by less than a second during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Rivalry week continued here Thursday evening in the pool at the Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg as the visiting Big Reds managed a narrow sweep of Parkersburg South.

The Big Red girls held on for an 83-80 triumph while the red and white boys secured a 75-67 victory.

Delaney Snodgrass (200 IM, 2:18.56; 100 back, 1:03.76) and Adelaide Vann (50 free, 26.83; 100 free, 59.87), who were joined by Ingrid Youngstrom and Lily Jones on the victorious 200 medley relay team (2:07.27) were the only double winners for the girls. Vann managed to narrowly hold off Patriot Vivian Grimm (1:00.26) in the 100 free as well as South’s Paige Johnson (27.65) in the 50 free.

“We have our Penguin Invitational and it’s our last regular season meet,” said PHS head coach Emily Martin of Saturday’s meet. “Then we start championship season at the end of January.

“I love that we are bringing this high note of this meet tonight, kids putting up amazing times, big wins and some really, really big relay races that were super important, some big close to the wall races that we got our hand on the wall first and that always feels good.”

Parkersburg's Lily Jones won the 100 butterfly during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg’s boys also had a pair of double winners thanks to Brayden Lotton (200 free, 2:03.43; 100 back, 1:05.58) and Levi Morr (50 free, 22.58; 100 fly, 1:00.17).

Big Red Lars Youngstrom, who was joined by Lotton, Elliott Lambert and anchor Jacob Hensley on the winning 200 medley relay team (2:00.19), barely touched the wall ahead of Patriot Levi Benton (6:30.93 to 6:31.59) to capture the 500 freestyle.

“For the boys to win as handily as they did, I’ve got to hand it to them and shout out to them because we’ve only got six boys on our team,” added coach Martin. “When they double us in numbers we know that we have to come out strong. We knew we had to come out with a lot of event wins because we could win an event and still lose it on the points if they got second or third.

“We knew we had to come out strong. They knew that they had work to do today. They knew we were kind of underdogs on both sides with our numbers and they did the work they needed to do. They showed up and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Parkersburg South’s girls had a first-place effort in the 100 breaststroke thanks to Camryn McLain’s clocking of 1:17.45.

Parkersburg South's Jalyn Eddy finished runner-up in the 500 freestyle during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

The Patriot girls also had relay wins in the 200 freestyle (1:51.48) with Grimm, McLain, Johnson and Isabella Scarberry as well as in the 400 freestyle (4:19.83) thanks to Johnson, McLain, Grimm and Alexandra Smith.

“It’s been the busiest week of the year for us. Hosting the meet Saturday and hosting this meet today and then we got to go to the Y(MCA) Saturday,” admitted South head coach Ryan Radcliff, who watched Big Reds Emily Jones (200 free, 2:21.06), Lily Jones (100 fly, 1:08.24) and Lily Farinash (500 free, 6:44.57) win the other three girls individual events.

“It’s a big week of Parkersburg swimming. It was good. The kids had fun and that’s what it’s all about. You know, middle of the week, it’s tough to get up and go, but they got up and went pretty well and swam good. We’re happy with the results. It was great.”

Coach Radcliff, who got individual wins from the boys thanks to Remington Blair (100 free, 53.09) and Shawn Thornhill (100 breast, 1:14.16), closed the meet with a nailbitting victory in the 400 free relay.

Thornhill, Blair, Brent Freels and Ben Marks posted a 3:55.10 as the Big Reds, who narrowly had the anchor Morr rally for the win with teammates Youngstrom, Jacob Hensley and Noah Brown finished in 3:55.66.

Parkersburg's Delaney Snodgrass swims the opening leg on the Big Reds' victorious 200 medley relay team during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We started the season unhealthy and had some injuries and things from the offseason. We’ve been building back,” added coach Radlicff. “We’re always a late blooming team anyway, every year that I’ve coached. I’m seeing the things that we need to see at this point and they are starting to hit their stride. I think in the next few weeks it’s really going to show.

“Just consistency is the main thing. The biggest hurdle is going through Christmas break and being able to train through that. We did really well over the Christmas break and training went well. We just got to carry that momentum and stay consistent, just keep working hard and trust the process.”

The Big Red boys also won the 200 medley relay in 2:00.19 with Lotton, Lambert, Youngstrom and Hensley as well as the 200 free relay in 1:38.36 thanks to Lotton, Lambert, Brown and Morr.

“We’ve got some huge fast teams coming. We’ve got Wheeling Park and George Washington coming. Obviously, Parkersburg South will be there and we’ll see them again,” coach Martin said of Saturday’s home meet. “Robert C. Byrd has an incredible team.

“We’ve got some really, really fast competition. It’s a really scary looking psych sheet because there’s really fast kids and there’s a lot of them. It’s going to be some really great exciting racing and a great way to end our season and get ourselves amped up and ready to go for championship season.”

Parkersburg's South Vivian Grimm finished runner-up in the 100 freestyle during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Parkersburg's Elliott Lambert won the 200 individual medley during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg South's Camryn McLain finished runner-up in the 200 individual medley during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Parkersburg's Lars Youngstrom won the 500 freestyle during Thursday's dual meet at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)