Jupiter High School's boys swimming and diving team is the Class 4A state champion. At the Florida High School Athletic Association championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training in Ocala, the Warriors finished with 206.5 points, 5.5 ahead of Cypress Bay High of Weston at 201.

The title came down to the last event of the night, the boys 400-yard freestyle relay, and Jupiter won it.

The race that decided it

Jupiter's relay of Charles Howard, Chase Young, Asher Smith and Julian Granison, all four of them seniors, touched first in 3:01.30, according to the FHSAA's official results. Cypress Bay was second in 3:05.01.

Relays count double at the state meet, so a relay win is worth 40 points and second place 34. That six-point swing in the final race is the difference in the final standings: going into the relay, the two teams were separated by half a point.

Jupiter's 3:01.30 was also faster than the 3:04.29 automatic All-America mark printed on the results sheet for that event. The Florida high school record, listed on the same sheet, is 2:54.43, set by Bolles of Jacksonville in 2012.

The final 4A boys standings

The top of the boys team table from the FHSAA results:

  • 1. Jupiter, 206.5
  • 2. Cypress Bay (Weston), 201
  • 3. Winter Park, 186.5
  • 4. Allen D. Nease, 153
  • 5. Riverview (Sarasota), 143

Palm Beach County had a second team in the top half of the field: Boca Raton High finished 12th with 77 points.

The Jupiter girls finished fourth

Jupiter's girls also scored in the top five. They tied Windermere for fourth place in Class 4A with 139 points. Riverview of Sarasota won the girls title with 350.5, ahead of Creekside at 221 and Oviedo at 158.

Where the season goes from here

Classes 3A and 4A swam their state finals on Nov. 6 and 7. The smaller schools in Classes 1A and 2A are next, at the same Ocala pool on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14. The FHSAA posts complete results for every class, including every heat, split and relay lineup, on its swimming and diving results page, and the meets stream on the NFHS Network.

Sources