OKLAHOMA CITY — Norman North went to the Class 6A State Swim Meet with a strong team, and it leaves it with four state champions and a fifth-place overall finish.
Justin Wu and the North 200 medley relay team were the big finishers Saturday, with Wu winning as a part of the relay as well as the 100 backstroke state title in a tight victory over Norman High competitor Brad Quy.
“It was an intense race,” Wu said of his .92-second victory in the backstroke. “My legs and arms were both dead by the end of it. Brad’s a great swimmer and I’m just glad I was able to pull it off.”
Quy, who entered the race as the favorite, said he knew it would come down to him and Wu at the end.
“I wanted it to be me who came out on top, but I gave it my all and so did Justin so I’m happy with my finish,” he said. “It was the race of the year, in my book.”
The North relay team swam the race in 1:38.03 to earn the victory and turn Wu, Tomas Elder, Alex Zhu and Kendon McGehee into state champions. The group entered the race as the favorites and lived up to that expectation, taking more than a second off their qualifying time to defeat second-place Edmond North by nearly two seconds.
McGehee, who swam the last leg of the race for the Timberwolves, had to overcome some adversity in the last 100 yards to seal the victory for North. Turning around for the final stretch, he caught a gulp of water when he took a breath.
Rather than risk losing time coming back up for air, he put his head down and completed the race without taking a second breather.
“I was really nervous going into the race, but I’m glad I was able to finish it off,” McGehee said. “I’m with some of the fastest guys in the state and I couldn’t ask for more from my team.”
Even though the North boys entered the meet with an outside shot at a state title and came up short, coach Kent Nicholson said all his swimmers impressed him. He was especially proud of the way they rallied toward the end of the meet and finished with a string of strong performances.
“It was definitely better than I expected because we swam faster than we thought we would,” he said. “There’s always some ups and downs, but overall we had a really good meet.”
Corbin Hosler 366-3528 chosler@normantranscript.com
