Richmond Hill senior Robby Jones Saturday became the first male swimmer for the Wildcats to reach the finals at the state swim meet.

Jones did so in two events, swimming a 53.59 in the 100-yard butterfly to finish ninth and setting a personal-best 1:47.15 in the 200-yard freestyle, good for 11th place.

"This experience has been amazing as a whole," Wildcats Coach Kristin Blanton said. "Our swimmers got to see some fast competition and I'm so proud of how they rose to the occassion and remained competitive."

Richmond Hill sent 12 swimmers to the state meet, held at Georgia Tech, which is four times as many as the programs first two years combined. This was the third time Jones had qualified for the state meet, and Blanton said she hopes it will result in some college programs showing an interest in him.

Jones qualified two years ago as a sophomore along with Jordyn Gulle in Richmond Hill's first year as a program. Gulle, who now swims for the University of Georgia, placed third in the girls' 100-yard breaststroke in the finals that year. Jones was Richmond Hill's lone state qualifier last year.

Jones also qualified this year with the 200 freestyle relay team that includes Harrison Taylor, Logan Duggar and Tyler Dunlavy, along with alternates Gavin Pennington and Magnus Bamman.

For the girls, both the 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay teams qualified.

Kat Stigall, Esperanza Otero and Maddie Patselas were on both teams, with Cierra Sims rounding out the 200 team and Chae Yun Yoo doing the same on the 400 team. Madyson Purdy was the alternate for both.