CUMMING — The Woodstock boys met their goal of winning the Cherokee County Invitational title Saturday at the Cumming Aquatic Center, but it didn’t go quite as planned.

Entering the meet, coach J.T. Gillin hoped his boys would win by a large enough margin to assure the program the overall title as well. However, the Wolverines beat second-place Etowah by just 19 points, 253-234.

Sequoyah finished third with 231 points, followed by River Ridge (148), Creekview (60) and Cherokee (26).

Gillin knew some of his swimmers would be fighting through the pain of ongoing injuries, but Woodstock was dealt another blow when Alex Norman injured his knee in one of the first races of the day — the 50-yard freestyle. Norman was the favorite in the 100 breaststroke, as well the a key component on two relay teams.

“Even with everything that went wrong, we still squeaked it out,” Gillin said of the boys title. “It was closer than it probably should have been, but that is why we swim these things. Things happen, so I’m happy with my boys.”

Woodstock placed first in the 200 medley relay with Dalton Baxter, Chase Johnson, Alarii Levreault-Lopez and Judson Robertson completing the race in 1 minute, 45.71 seconds.

Baxter and Robertson came through in the 200 freestyle, finishing first and second. Patrick Godfrey of Etowah was third.

Levreault-Lopez won the 200 individual medley in 2:05.89. He was followed by Creekview’s Rockwell Peterson (2:10.57) and River Ridge’s Austin Maxwell (2:13.70).

Levreault-Lopez also won the 100 butterfly over Peterson and Etowah’s Austin Hoyt.

Etowah’s Dylan Villhauer won the 50 free in 22:38 seconds. Sequoyah’s Ben Syers was second, followed by Hoyt of Etowah. Villhauer also won the 100 freestyle in 49.39 seconds, followed by Sequoyah’s Jack Syers. Woodstock picked up points with Alex Norman in third and Trevor Gattis fourth.

Dalton Baxter was on a near-record pace in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:53.80. His Wolverine teammate, Chase Johnson, was second.

Etowah teamed for a victory in the 200 freestyle relay, with Woodstock second and River Ridge third.

Jack Syers posted a 4-second victory over Maxwell in the 100 backstroke. Roberson was third.

Sequoyah’s Kyle Renner was the winner of the 100 breaststroke, as Norman was forced to bow out. Etowah’s Hayden Armistead and Godfrey were second and third, respectively.

Villhauer, Craig Wineman, Tanner Bledsoe and Hoyt combined to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:33.02. The Woodstock team of Owen Bailey, Trevor Gattis, Baxter and Levreault-Lopez finished second, followed by Sequoyah.

Etowah coach Victoria Richards said she was pleased with how well her boys performed.

“They really picked it up (Saturday),” she said. “I didn’t expect us to do as well as we did. All of them really swam up.”