Atwater’s Norton battles nerves to impressive finish at sections

Connor Norton battled nerves all week when the Atwater High junior’s thoughts turned to the Sac-Joaquin Section Swimming Championships.

Norton became even more nervous when he looked at the qualifying times of his competition.

Norton still held his own against some of the top swimmers in the section by placing sixth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.48 seconds. He also finished seventh in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.69 seconds.

“My goal coming in was just to make the finals,” Norton said. “I knew there was going to be a lot of fast guys so I’m proud of my accomplishments. Maybe next year I can shoot for a bigger goal like state.”

Norton will definitely be able to learn from his experience this past weekend. He proved to himself he belongs on the big stage.

“I think he’ll be right back here next year,” said Atwater coach David Svendsen. “He’s already talking about summer swimming and how it transitions to the long course. He’ll jump back into water polo. Connor is going to spend a lot of his senior year in the pool.”

Buhach Colony’s Gwynne McBride was part of two school records on Saturday.

The Thunder senior finished 14th in the 100 breaststroke. Her time of 1 minute, 8.7 seconds broke her own school record.

“It was nice to set a record in my last individual race in high school,” McBride said. “I came into the race seeded 16th and finished 14th so that’s cool.”

McBride also teamed up with Thunder swimmers Emma Seifert, Pamela Solano and sister Erin McBride to set a school record in 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:48.63, which was good for 11th place.

Buhach Colony girls also had a 200 medley relay team that finished 15th with a time of 1:56.24.

The Atwater boys 200 medley relay team finished 11th (1:42.04) and Hilmar’s placed 15th (1:47.04). The Yellowjackets 400 freestyle relay team finished 11th with a time of 3:23.72. Buhach Colony’s 400 relay team placed 16th (3:33.75).

Leading the underclassmen in the frosh/soph events was Buhach Colony sophomore Aaron Helfgott, who tied for third place in the 100 freestyle (49.55).

El Capitan freshman Kaileb Michael placed eighth in the frosh/soph 100 butterfly (56 seconds). Gauchos teammate Aidan Ramirez finished in 11th in the frosh/soph 100 breaststroke (1:04.62).

Merced freshman Sophia Hart placed 14th in the frosh/soph 100 backstroke (1:04.69).

This story was originally published May 13, 2017 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Atwater’s Norton battles nerves to impressive finish at sections."