Windermere High junior Ryan Erisman is one of a select list of Florida high schoolers who have turned in swimming times that qualify him for next summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials.
His speed showed Saturday in state championship victories at the FHSAA Class 4A swimming and diving championships in Ocala.
Erisman dominated the boys 200-yard freestyle final with a time of 1 minute, 36.13 seconds and later led all the way in winning the 500 free at 4:22.05. He added a third gold medal as anchorman for the Wolverines’ victorious 200 free relay.
Both of his individual times were well under the standard for automatic All-America (A-A) status as set by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.
Windermere had two other individual state champs as the highest-placing Orlando area program. Walter Kueffer won the boys 50 free in 20.71 seconds. And senior Addison Reese swam a 52.99 prelim time and then won the girls 100 backstroke decisively in 53.45 seconds at the indoor Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training (FAST) center.
Reese placed second in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.67).
Boone junior Arianna Wertheim swam A-A times while winning the girls 500 free (4:49.68) and taking third in the 200 free (1:48.24).
The Braves had a second state champion in senior diver Lanie Gutch, who won by a big margin. Gutch was the 4A champ in that event as a freshman and was runner-up as a sophomore and junior.
Winter Park senior Adrianna Lojewski won the girls 50 free with an A-A time of 23.07 seconds. She placed second in the 100 free at 50.43.
Windermere’s relays excelled.
The Wolverines won the girls 200 free relay in 1:33.63 with Reese, Hollace Stokes, Aidyn Reese and Brooke Larweth each swimming a lap.
The Reese sisters teamed with Larweth and Maddie Reynolds to place second in the 200 medley relay (1:42.21). Both of those performances were A-A times.
Reynolds, Carolina Daher, Lucy Megginson and Lillian Krstolic added a second-place finish in the 400 free relay for the Wolverines.
Kueffer led off Windermere’s winning boys 200 free relay (1:22.47), followed by Lawson Seward, Roberto Zarate and Erisman.
Erisman, Kueffer and Zarate teamed with Rory Connelly to place second in the 400 relay.
And Kueffer, Seward, Adrian Garcia and Ian Cazella combined for a runner-up showing in the medley relay.
Zarate was runner-up in the boys 100 butterfly (48.76) after finishing fourth in the 200 free.
Reynolds finished fourth in both the 100 free and 100 backstroke.
Larweth was third at 23.43 and Lake Brantley freshman Hana Sungail finished fifth (23.64) in the 100 free. Sungail placed fifth in the 100 free.
Lake Brantley junior Danzhel Tuliao placed third in the boys breaststroke, one spot ahead of Winter Park junior Ian Heysen.
Hagerty sophomore Noah Stasik was the runner-up in boys diving.
Olympia junior Tristan Bonnet-Eymard took third in the boys 100 free.
West Orange was fourth at 1:37.90 in the girls 200 free relay and third in the 400 relay ahead of Winter Park and Lake Brantley. Ella Klyce anchored both of those races for the Warriors.
Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
