TAMPA — The annual pageant of brightly-colored tutus, rainbow wigs, music, dancing, body paint and fuzzy mascots was in full bloom during Saturday's annual City Relays at Bobby Hicks Pool.
At the same time there was some great competition happening in the pool among the 655 competitors from 26 Hillsborough County schools.
For the fourth consecutive year, Plant's girls pulled out the victory, winning with 194 points, 20 ahead of runner-up Academy of the Holy Names. Steinbrenner's girls were third with 130.
On the boys' side, Plant pulled out a rather unlikely victory because it entered only 11 boys, all of whom swam three events and one, senior Nate Warner, who competed with a cast on his broken hand.
The Panther boys totaled 164 points, followed by Steinbrenner (150) and Bloomingdale and Jesuit, which finished with 148 apiece. Jesuit was in position to win the meet but was disqualified for an early start on one relay, a penalty that likely amounted to 40 points getting taken off its total.
"We got everything we possible could out of our guys today," Plant boys coach Royce Brown said. "We have a lot to be proud of."