After a day of preliminaries at the Class A-AAAA portion of the state swim meet at the Georgia Aquatic Center in Atlanta, a number of area athletes are still alive.

Those that placed in the top 16 in their respective preliminaries on Friday will race in the finals today.

Flowery Branch led the way in the area, sending both its 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams into the finals. They finished 15th and 16th respectively in the preliminaries.

Zack Miller-Hogg, the team’s top swimmer, was competing in two individual events on Friday. He placed seventh in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1-minute 46.46 seconds, but was disqualified in the 100 freestyle after a false start.

North Hall’s Paul Powers was the top individual swimmer on Friday, qualifying in two events. He was first in the 50 freestyle and added a fifth-place finish in the 100 freestyle.

His younger brother, Ty, also qualified in the 50 freestyle with an 11th place finish. The Trojans’ 200 freestyle relay team placed ninth.

Buford sends two girls, Danielle Brooks and Brittany Litke, into the finals for the 200 freestyle and the 100 backstroke, respectively. Its 200 freestyle relay team finished 12th and also moved on.

Gainesville will send two swimmers into the finals. Senior Andy Doan placed fifth in the 50 freestyle and ninth in the 100 backstroke. Colin Monaghan finished in 13th in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 200 individual medley.

Chestatee and Habersham Central had one qualifier apiece. The War Eagles’ Tristan Taylor placed 13th in the 200 individual medley and 14th in the 500 freestyle. Habersham Central’s Scott Weyrich was 13th in the 200 freestyle and 12th in the 500 freestyle.

The finals will begin at 1 p.m. today at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.