Erek Nelson, Noah Corbitt capture gold at short-course swim championships

Bluffton swimmer Erek Nelson was a double winner at last month’s South Carolina Short Course State Championships in Greenville, while Hilton Head Island’s Noah Corbitt took home gold in the boys’ 500-yard freestyle.

Nelson, competing for the Fins Swim Club, captured titles in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. He outdueled West Columbia’s Nathan Walton in the 100 to finish in 50.80 seconds, beating his rival by one-tenth of a second.

His margin was a little more comfortable in the 200, with a time of 1:50.22 for a winning margin of .34 seconds.

Corbitt, of Hilton Head Aquatics, clocked 4:37.74 in the 500 freestyle to hit the wall more than three seconds ahead of his nearest pursuer. It was one of three top-3 finishes for Corbitt, who also was second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 200 freestyle.

Two other area swimmers took third in their specialties, H2A’s Lily Kerr in the 1,650 freestyle and Camron Reid (Fins) in the 100 butterfly.

Among younger age groups, Samuel Schwabauer (Fins) took runner-up honors in the 50 freestyle for Boys 13-14 and Sterling Burd (H2A) had a pair of third-place finishes in the 100 and 200 butterfly for Boys 11-12.

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Erek Nelson, Noah Corbitt capture gold at short-course swim championships."