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‘Really excited about it’: CMS students eligible to participate in swimming regionals this weekend

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Eligible CMS student athletes will be able to participate in the swimming and diving regional championship over the weekend.

The 2021 4A West NCHSAA Regional Championships are being held Saturday and Sunday at the Huntersville Family Fitness and Aquatic Center.

Despite the tournament being in the backyard of many swimmers, for a few weeks, participating was in doubt due to Mecklenburg County’s health directive.

“For a while, I was thinking this is it, my high school season is over for swimming,” Myers Park senior Ham Williams-Tracy, said. “In some ways, I kind of accepted that already but I was beyond excited to hear it is back.”

This weekend represents a goal many swimmers have worked years to reach. Even when its status was in doubt, Myers Park senior Jake Sapp said he continued to stay focused.

“It is the big thing we have been building up to our entire high school career,” he said. “To be able to have this one thing and to be given the opportunity to go through with it is big for us.”

Last week, CMS announced sports can resume, and swimmers can participate in regionals.

Both Williams-Tracy and Sapp said they were overjoyed.

“As soon as I found out we were swimming at regionals this weekend, I was laser-focused on it, and I was really excited about it,” Williams-Tracy said.

The regionals will have numerous safety protocols in place. Attendance is extremely limited, and swimmers wear masks whenever they are not in the pool.

“We definitely are taking it seriously,” Sapp said. “We are glad that our efforts to take it seriously have paid off.”