St. Thomas Aquinas' Skylar Knowlton shines in Division II state swim championship

DURHAM - St. Thomas Aquinas High School junior Skylar Knowlton set the New Hampshire girls high school record in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles at last year's Division II state swim meet.

So, entering Saturday's Division II state championship meet at Swasey Pool, it was a smart bet that Knowlton would again make a splash on the big stage.

Knowlton lived up to the hype as she took home first-place honors in both the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 50.09 seconds) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:53.28) at the state meet on the campus of the University of New Hampshire.

Knowlton was unable to break either of her records in the 200 freestyle (1:48.43) or 500 freestyle (4:46.86). on Saturday.

"I was pretty happy with (my performance in the 500)," Knowlton said. "I went a little faster last year, but this is the fastest I've gone all season. I was happy with how it went. I was kind of just in the zone and I was relaxing about it. It was fun and I enjoyed it."

She said the 200 was "really tough."

"It was really hard, but I enjoyed it," Knowlton said. "I went out really hard, which is something I've been struggling with; getting over that hump is really nice."

St. Thomas Aquinas coach Rhi Jeffrey said Knowlton is a "special athlete."

"I feel privileged all the time that I get to be a part of her journey," said Jeffrey, who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. "I can't tell you how many people come up to me on the deck and are like 'it's so fun watching her race.' It's been really, really fun working with her."

Teammate Morgan Batchelder placed second in the 100-yard freestyle (55.42), and tied for fifth in the 100-yard backstroke.

"I'm pretty proud of myself," Batchelder said. "I've definitely been working on improving from last year and I think I accomplished that today."

Overall, St. Thomas placed fifth with a team score of 116.5. Hanover won with a team score of 236, while Oyster River (148), Hollis-Brookline (140) and Windham (121) placed second through fourth, respectively.

St. Thomas' 4x200-meter relay team, consisting of Knowlton, Batchelder, Kaitlyn Rodrigues and Kirstin Caterino, placed second in 1:47.18; while the 4x400-relay team of Knowlton, Batchelder, Caterino and Leli Quitkin placed second in 3:54.58.

"I think (the meet) was really great," Jeffrey said. "Every time these girls step up and get together, they definitely exceed expectations. I'm very proud of them."

Oyster River girls shine in diving

Oyster River's Greta Parks won the 1-meter diving with 313.45 points. Teammate Lily Rudman was third (266.95), while Megan Zehetner (226.90) and Lucy Fogg (224.40) were eighth and ninth, respectively.

"The girls came together and outperformed across the board," Oyster River head coach Bill Reeves said. "It was a special day for the girls. Everything they did just kind of turned out to be magical. They worked together, they cheered for each other."

"We did really well today," Zehetner said. "I'm so proud of all of the girls. We worked really hard to get here."

Oyster River's Tessa Brown placed third (1:12.59) in the 100-yard breaststroke and Payton Zilm (2:32.67) was fifth in the 200-yard IM (2:32.76).

Oyster River's 4x200-meter relay team, consisting of Una Bleckmann, Mia Boyd, Lotta Berglund and Brown, placed fifth in 1:53.49; and the 4x400 team of Bleckmann, Berglund, Zilm and Brown also placed fifth (4:10.91).

Portsmouth boys place fourth overall; girls are 13th

Portsmouth placed fourth in the boys meet with a score 127. Windham (209), Hanover (167) and Coe-Brown (130) were the top three teams.

Portsmouth's Andrew Franas was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle (25.37), while teammate Andrew Brown was sixth (25.74).

Tobias Wilkinson was fifth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:10.01), Kian Chan' was fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.61) and Daniel Sabalakov was sixth (1:13.76).

In the girls meet, Portsmouth placed 13th with 38 points.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: St. Thomas Aquinas Knowlton wins two titles at state swim meet