“The trophy travels from school to school,” the public address announcer said during a break between races at the Forsyth County Championship swim meet, describing the hardware awarded to the meet’s champions.

Ever since Lambert High School opened, though, the mobile nature of the trophy has been more of a hypothetical possibility. The Longhorns boys and girls teams won the county meet for the ninth consecutive year on Saturday at the Cumming Aquatic Center. South Forsyth took second in the boys and girls standings.

“It’s kind of expected now for us,” Lambert head coach Kerry Langley said.

Langley noted, however, that she didn’t see the result as a certainty heading into Saturday. But around the time of the 200-yard freestyle relay, Langley began to feel more assured. On the boys side, that race carried some of the most intrigue of the meet.

North Forsyth and Lambert finished first and second, respectively, in that race at the state meet last year, and both are on track for similar results in 2018. The Raiders return three members of the state relay team, with anchor leg Jack Dalmolin having graduated, and Lambert returns just one, in senior Wyatt Dalton.

The race on Saturday was close the whole way, but Lambert had a slight lead for most of it, and while Raiders anchor Daniel Brisuda was slightly quicker than Dalton, he couldn’t surge into the lead. Lambert won with a time of 1:28.62 to the Raiders’ 1:28.82.

“I didn’t have a doubt we would (win),” Dalton said. “Not a single one. Before the race, I knew in my head.”

Both North and Lambert are expected to drop time before the state meet, which is scheduled for Fec. 1-3 at Georgia Tech. Brookwood and Milton are other top contenders in the boys 200-yard relay.

“It’s going to boom, boom, boom, boom,” Langley said. “It’s going to be exciting.”

The Longhorns girls are looking to recapture the state title after finishing second last year, which broke a run of four straight victories in the state’s highest classification. Their chances of doing so look promising, as they’re led by a pair of seniors signed high-major programs in Caroline Aikins (Georgia) and Lilia Smith (Arizona State). Aikins won the 200 individual medley, 100 back and swam on two first-place relays, and Smith had wins in the 200 free, 200 free and the same two relays.  

Full results

Boys

Lambert 501

South Forsyth 346.5

West Forsyth 341

Forsyth Central 285.5

North Forsyth 267

Pinecrest 147

Girls

Lambert 553

South Forsyth 474

Forsyth Central 334

West Forsyth 280

North Forsyth 214

Pinecrest 82