Valdez, 200-yard relay team win state swimming championships, lead Dalton to third-place team finish

Published 5:30 pm Monday, February 7, 2022

Roman Valdez finished as the boys Class 6A state swimming champion in 100-meter freestyle as the Dalton High School swim team finished third in the Class 6A team standings at the state swimming and diving championships at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday.

Valdez was the individual state champion in the 100-meter freestyle event and finished second in the 200-yard freestyle, while Valdez helped the 200-yard freestyle relay team win tops in the state.

Johns Creek won the Class 6A team championship with 380 points, while Centennial (260) finished ahead of Dalton (244). Dalton won state team championships in 2018 and 2020.

Valdez was crowned state champion after edging out Allatoona’s Noah Smith (46.26) with a time of 44.54 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle. Valdez repeated as state champion after grabbing an individual title in the same event last season.

Valdez, along with Jayden Bearden, Will Haley and Cole Withrow, made up the relay team that won the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:25.38.

The win marks the fifth consecutive year that the 200-yard freestyle relay squad has won the state championship.

Valdez and Bearden also competed on the 400-yard freestyle relay team, along with Patrick Calderon-Schuler and Bruno Valdez, that finished second behind Centennial.

The 200-yard medley relay squad, comprised of Calderon-Schuler, Haley, Withrow and Franco Valdez finished fifth. Bearden was the eighth-place finisher in the 200-yard freestyle, while Franco Valdez was ninth in the 100-yard backstroke.

Coahulla Creek’s Logan Jones also competed in the Class A-3A state championships on Saturday. Jones finished fifth in the division in the 100-meter butterfly while taking ninth in the 50-meter freestyle.