STUART, Fla. – Clay High freshman swimmer Sara Stotler faced off against two defending state champions in Friday’s Class 2A swimming championships held in Stuart and came away with a silver medal and a bronze medal in her first visit to the high-powered event.

For Orange Park High, junior Jacob Coutant finished 11th in the 200 free and ninth in the 100 butterfly.

In the 200 freestyle, Stotler finished third behind defending champion Ryley Ober of Bayshore, a junior who will probably be back in 2018 to face Stotler again.

“Coming into the 200 free I only had a six-minute warm-down/warm-up following the 200 Medley Relay, so I took it out at my own pace, focusing on my own lane,” said Stotler, who trains with the former Fleming Island state swimmer Kyle Casias who coaches the Loggerhead Aquatics elite teams out of Magnolia Point Country Club.

In the 100 butterfly, Stotler faced off with Gulliver Prep’s Emily Cordovi, again the defending champion, and earned her second All-American-C time as runnerup. Cordovi blasted the first 50 to break from the rest of the field with a 25.24 first 50 with Stotler on her heels at 25.66.

“I was right with Emily at the first turn and pretty close on the second,” said Stotler. “I have been working diligently on my underwaters and I knew that would be the key to hanging with my competitors.”

In the relays, Stotler teamed with sister Anna Stotler, a junior who finished 20th in the 100 free and 24th in the 100 backstroke, Elysia Addison, a freshman who finished 24th in the 100 breaststroke, and Jessica Voigt, a sophomore, to finish eighth in the 200 medley relay in 1:53.72. Gulliver Prep won in 1:46.73.

The same Clay quartet finished 13th in the 200 free relay in 1:44.02 with Gulliver Prep winning at 1:38.06.

In other events,

Orange Park sophomore Daniel Hinkle took 24th in the 500 free.