The preliminary round of swimming at the state championships were a mixture of joy and disappointment for Cherokee County athletes.

The Class A-AAAAA preliminaries, which were completed early Friday, saw just a just a handful of swimmers — the top 16 finishers in each event —advance to today’s finals at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

Moving into the finals were Sequoyah’s Rachel Pelzek (200-yard freestyle, 100 freestyle), Kristina Kosloski (50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke), and Jack Syers (100 freestyle, 100 backstroke). The Chiefs also saw the 200 free relay team of Kosloski, Pelzek, Sophie Roy and Mallory Knowles reach the finals.

Ben Syers missed advancing in the 50 freestyle by .04 seconds.

Creekview’s Brittany Creasy, who competed in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle, advanced in both of her events.

No swimmers from River Ridge advanced to the finals.

The meet continues today at 9 a.m.

The Class AAAAAA finals will also feature several area swimmers. The preliminary rounds were still taking place at press time, so the total number of qualifiers was unknown.

Etowah’s 200 medley relay team of Hannah Martin, Taylor Weiss, Ira Vogt and Katie Taylor will compete in the finals today.

Weiss also advanced in the 100 butterfly. Taylor just missed out on qualifying in the 500 freestyle. She was .05 shy of 16th place, but there is an outside chance she could compete as an alternate.

Megan Young will race in the finals in the 200 IM, while Lauren Oglesby will compete in the 500 freestyle.

In addition to the swimming finals, the diving competition will be held. Etowah’s Madison Duvall is seeded eighth in AAAAAA.