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Brookwood’s swim team places in statewide competition

Brookwood School swimmers, l-r: Hunter Hinson, Emmaline Brannon and Jackson Brannon. Photo by Sue Hinson.

Three swimmers from Brookwood School competed against 30 other teams in the Georgia Independent School Association State Swim Meet the first weekend in February. Brookwood’s Hunter Hinson and Jackson Brannon placed 5th overall in the boys’ division, and Emmaline Brannon placed 8th in the girls’ division at the GISA event held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
Hinson, a senior, came in first place in all three of his competitive events and will graduate this spring, leaving behind four GISA state swimming records he set during his prep school swimming career. He is the son of Lofley and Barbara Hinson of Cairo.
Jackson Brannon, a junior, came in fourth place in all three of his events at the swim meet.
Jackson’s sister Emmaline, a 6th grader, swam against other 6th, 7th and 8th graders in the GISA meet. She came in first place, second and third place in her three competitive events. Their parents are Pamela and John Brannon of Cairo.
“Hunter swam the 200-yard freestyle, coming in first with a time of 1:44.35, setting a new state record by breaking his own record from last year,” said his mother, Barbara Hinson.
“He also came in first in the 100-yard butterfly, swimming a time of 49.97, breaking the record of 50.61 set 14 years ago. He swam to a first place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:43.08. Hunter already held and continues to hold the state record in the 500-yard freestyle event. Hunter also still holds the 100-yard backstroke state record with a time of 51.84 that he made last year at the GISA State Meet.”
She said that Jackson Brannon swam the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.13, the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:07.55 and the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.56.
“Emmaline did extremely well for only being in the 6th grade and having to swim against much older and bigger swimmers,” Barbara Hinson explained. “Emmaline came in second in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:10.06, third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 28.04, and captured first place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 36.45.  We were all so proud for her.”
John Brannon said that this year, the swimmers were limited to only three events each, down from four events per swimmer last year.
“This prevents the smaller schools from placing higher in the overall team totals,” he explained. “A lot of the smaller schools with hardworking, year-around swimmers are penalized for being faster.”
Last year, when individual swimmers could compete in four events each, the two Brookwood boys, Hinson and Brannon, brought home the second place trophy in the state.
 

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