AHSAA State Swimming and Diving: Grissom’s Casey Sapp claims Class 6A/7A boys’ diving title for second straight year

HUNTSVILLE – Grissom High School junior diver Casey Sapp posted a 446.65 score Friday to claim the AHSAA Class 6A/7A Boys’ Diving individual championship for the second straight year.

Sapp edged Bob Jones junior Cal Hamilton, who finished a distant second with a 344.05 score. Both picked up 20 and 17 points, respectively, for their teams as the 66^th AHSAA State Swimming and Diving Championships closed out the first day’s competition of the two-day state meet at the Huntsville Aquatics Center.

The state meet opened Friday with preliminary swimming competition and will conclude tonight with the swimming finals.

The championships are being live streamed by the NFHS Network over its subscriber-based platform with veteran announcer Johnny Thornton handling the commentary. For more information, go to www.nfhsnetwork.com.

Meanwhile several North Alabama teams and individuals came away with championships.

• Brody Tindoll of James Clemens won the Class 6A/7A boys’ 200-yard freestyle title with a 1:41.41 time.
• Bob Jones’ Abby Chan won the 100-yard butterfly event in Class 6A/7A with a state-record time of 52.79 time.

• Bob Jones’ 200-yard medley team won the girls’ title in 6A/7A Friday with a time of 1:45.93 in the finals – just a second off the AHSAA state record sets by the Patriots in 2023. The relay team consisted of Emilie Tessemer, Isabelle Park, Abby Chan, and Meli Mbuko. The swimmers improved their prelim time by almost six seconds to nip Huntsville, who had the best prelim time of 1:50.40.

• Arab High School’s  relay team of Karington Harper, Anderly Shumate, Maddie Nunley, and Bailee Parks won the Class 1A/5A 200-yard medley relay title with a winning time of 1:53.94.

• James Clemens’ 200-yard medley team won the 6A/7A state championship with a time of 1:34.19. The Jets’ swimmers included Christian Wester, Will Ross, Leland Barbour, and Brody Tindoll.

• Winning the 1A/5A title in the event was Randolph School’s relay team consisting of Brady Weglage, Austin Shadlinger, Sam Frazier, and Grant McLoud.

Huntsville, striving to its 10^th straight Class 6A/7A boys’ state swimming championship, took a 36-point lead after Friday’s competition leading the scoring with 143 points. Vestavia Hills is second with 107, followed by James Clemens with 84 and Bob Jones, 82.

Huntsville’s girls’ team accumulated 110 points to lead the Class 6A/7A division competition Friday. Vestavia Hills is second with 100 points, followed  by defending state champion Bob Jones with 97 and James Clemens with 76. The Lady Panthers are trying to claim their first AHSAA state swimming crown since 2021.

Montgomery’s LAMP High School holds a slim 91-87 lead over Arab in the Class 1A/5A girls’ competition. Randolph is third with 65 and defending state champion Westminster Christian is fourth after Friday’s competition with 60 points.

Randolph of Huntsville posted 120 points to take the first-day lead in the Class 1A/5A boys’ division. St. John Paul II Catholic is second with 106 points, followed by Boaz (87), Alabama School of Cyber Technology (81), and defending state champion Scottsboro (48).

St. John Paul II finished 1-2 in the Class 1A/5A boys’ diving competition Friday with Isaac Whestone claiming the individual title with a 385.05 score. Teammate Evan Sprinz was second with a 235.75 total, and Randolph junior Brady Weglage third at 225.90. Girls’ diving competition will be today.