The boys’ swim team from Picayune High School captured its first ever Class 4A South State championship this past weekend.

Also, swimmers from both Picayune and Pearl River Central earned first place finishes in their respective categories at the event as well, which took place at the Sportsplex Natatorium and was hosted by West Jones High School.

The Maroon Tide finished with 373 points, eeasily outdistancing second place Oak Grove which had 325 points to nip third place Biloxi which finished with with 320 points.

There were 18 teams competing in the boys’ division.

Doug Hall paced Picayune’s winning ways, capturing a pair of South State titles. Hall swam a 5:27.62 in the 500-yard freestyle to finish first and also came in first place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.46.

Also, the 200-yard medley relay team of Andrew Lohnes, Jake Martinez, Blake Rutherford and Hall won first place with time of 1:46.57, which is a new school record.

Other Maroon Tide swimmers that recorded top five finishes in one of the 11 categories were Rutherford, Martinez, Lohnes, Nick Riso, Ben Daly and Neil Jarrett.

Other team members representing Picayune in the state meet include Walter Rusby, Aaron Spiers, T.J. House, Clint Davis, Jared Bates, Brice Warden and Jordan Kiser.

Pearl River Central finished seventh in the boys’ competiton with 126 points.

• In the girls’ competition, PRC finished fifth with 181 points, but a pair of PRC swimmers took home South State titles.

Cadic Griffing took the 50-yard frestyle event with a winning time of 26.11, while PRC’s Emily Speights won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:06.68.

The PRC 200-yard freestyle relay team also captured the South State title.

Ocean Springs swam away with the girls title with 318 points, while the Picayune girls finished 9th overall with 109.5 points. Nineteen (19) teams competed in the girls meet.

The local teams will return to Laurel this weekend for the overall Class 4A meet.