By By Jeff Byrd/staff writer
July 7, 2002
Day two of the Firecracker Invitational at the Highland Park Pool saw the Meridian Swim Association stay close to the top in the team standings.
Led by the club's three top swimmers in Holly Corbitt, Jacob Gray and David Moody, Meridian was still in the hunt for the team title for the three-day event featuring 13 teams.
MSA head swim coach Chris Engledow was once again elated with his team's showing.
Through about 65 events by mid-afternoon, Meridian trailed a well-balanced Mississippi Makos team 349-321. The Tupelo Shockwave was right behind at 287 followed by Vicksburg at 137 and Sunkist at 95.
Corbitt and Gray had each won three more races on Saturday to give them five wins apiece for the meet.
Corbitt had wins in the 200 meter free style, 50-meter butterfly and the 100-meter breaststroke. She also got a second in the 50-meter backstroke.
MSA showed some depth behind its stars as Chesney Tedder grabbed second behind Corbitt in the 100-meter breastroke.
Ten-year-old Semmes Patridge turned in one of the most improved times of the day. Patridge trimmed off nearly 27 seconds off her seed time in the 10-and-under girls 100-meter freestyle.
She finished second to Sunkist's Jennifer Reid who had four wins on the day. Reid won the 100 free in 1:25.75 while Patridge was at 1:28.98, 26-plus seconds better than her previous 1:55.67. Morgan Fuller of Meridian was fifth in the race.
Moody, 16, won the boys 200 and 400 meter free style. He also took second in the 200-meter breaststroke and took part in the old-timers' 50-meter free race which featured two swim coaches.
Gray beat out a field of 16 in the 50-meter fly to take the race in 35.21. He also won the 200-meter boys 12-and-under free in 2:26.58. Christian Eifert was sixth and Eric Ducksworth was seventh in that race.
Other top individual swimmers on the day included Morgan Presley and Hannah Wilson of the Tupelo Shockwave. Ashlee Zila of Makos had two wins, a second and a third while Evan Salter of the Bluff City Barracudas won four events in the boys 8-and-under division.