By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

St. Charles hadn’t experienced a district swim meet since before Hurricane Katrina. Recently, the Comets showed exactly how primed they were to compete in one.

The St. Charles boys and girls each captured the Metro New Orleans High School Swim League South district championship on Oct. 21 at St. Martin’s, and a number of Comets have qualified to swim in the upcoming metro meet at Tulane that will take place from Nov. 7-8.

The girls won in dramatic fashion. Needing to finish third in the 4×400 yard freestyle relay, the Comets were trailing in fourth until the final leg, when Emily Brady pulled her team into third and with it the district title. Olivia Millet, Candace McGaff, and Danielle Brignac joined her on the clinching relay team.

“That’s something that really helps build momentum into the state meet,” said SCC Swimming Coach Denise Falgoust. “The kids are really excited.”

St. Charles scored 396 points, to E.D. White’s 391. St. Martin’s finished third, scoring 288. Destrehan finished fourth, and Hahnville sixth.

The Comet boys team scored 403 points to outpace Holy Cross, which finishes second with 366. E.D. White finished third with 320 points. Destrehan and Hahnville finished fifth and sixth respectively.

In combined team scores, St. Charles beat E.D. White 799-711.

SCC’s Kaila Klibert (1st, 100 backstroke, 2nd, 200 freestyle), Emily Brady (3rd, 500 freestyle), Adam Fisher (1st, 100 breastroke, 2nd, 100 freestyle), Alex Zenicki (1st, 500 freestyle), James Krawczyk (2nd, 100 breaststroke), and Katelyn Vitrano (5th, 100 butterfly).

Falgoust believes that when the time comes for the state meet, her team will be ready to make a big impact.

“Our boys are really excited,” she says. “We’re looking forward to it. I think it looks to be much closer between us and (defending state champion) Lutcher.”