ATLANTA - The Lassiter boys were out to prove themselves in Friday's preliminaries of the Class AAAAA state championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

The Trojans took a page out of the girls' playbook by using their depth to their advantage and set themselves up for a potential top-five finish following today's finals.

It all started with the relays, where Lassiter is seeded high in all three races. The Trojans are the second seed in the 200-yard freestyle, No. 4 in the 400 freestyle and No. 6 in the 200 medley.

Lassiter also had a strong showing in the individual events. Jimmy Yoder is the favorite to seal the 500 freestyle as the top seed and will challenge for the 200 freestyle crown as the No. 2 seed. Zach Bunner will be fighting for a backstroke title as the No. 3 seed and is fourth in the 100 butterfly.

Other individual highlights for the Trojans included Michael McCarthy being the No. 6 seed in the 100 butterfly, while Drew Cuttic will be the seventh seed in the 200 freestyle and 10th in the 100 freestyle. Henry Loong is eighth in the 200 IM, Daniel Bridgers is the 10th seed in the 50 freestyle and James Goodin made the top 16 in the 500 freestyle.

"They are setting themselves up great," Lassiter coach Glenn Meeden said. "They are right up there in the top four in the relays. That's going to help. Zach Bunner, Mike McCarthy, Jimmy Yoder - the list goes on. They are looking great and will all be in the mix when it's all said and done. They are looking strong."

Pope got off to a slow start in the Class AAAA-A as it tried to adapt to unfamiliar opponents, coach Chris Haon said, but the Greyhounds eventually settled down.

At least all three of Pope's relays will be coming back. The Greyhounds missed the top eight in the 200 medley, settling for the No. 9 seed, but the Greyhounds did crack the top eight in the 200 freestyle relay.

Jordan Turner is returning as the sixth seed in the 100 breaststroke. He also was tied for the eighth-best time in the 200 IM and engaged in a swim-off late Friday night for a spot in the top eight.

Arthur Lo is returning to the finals in the 100 butterfly as the 12th seed and John Shula is 15th in the 100 backstroke.

"We knew this was going to be a fast meet," Pope coach Chris Haon said. "We were a little shell-shocked after the first couple of events, but we settled down. We didn't being as many people back as we hoped, but we got all our relays back. We're not where I'd hoped we would be, but we're still in it."

In the Class AAAAA preliminaries, Walton's Brian McClintock is on track in both sprint freestyle events, including the 50 free, in which he was the top seed. Jack Gunning is returning to the 100 backstroke finals as the 13th seed and will also be the No. 14 seed in the 200 IM. Davis Beauchamp is returning to the finals in the 100 breaststroke.

The Raiders are also seeded eighth in the 200 medley relay and ninth in the 400 freestyle.

Harrison made the finals in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Connor Oslin made the finals of the 100 backstroke as the No. 14 seed, with Russell Dieter the 16th seed. Oslin is returning in the 100 butterfly as the 15th seed.

Michael Dugan of Marietta is tabbed as the No. 5 seed in the 200 freestyle and Sam Horvath is 13th in the same event. Dugan is also ninth in the 100 freestyle. Marietta's 200 freestyle relay is returning as the 11th seed.

Other AAAAA finalists include Wheeler's Sean Sloat, who is seeded sixth in the 50 freestyle and seventh in the 100 freestyle, and Kennesaw Mountain's Jake Schoeff, who is No. 5 in the 100 butterfly and will be swimming with the 200 freestyle relay that made the finals. Campbell's Sam Wilgus is seeded No. 8 in both the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke and Hillgrove's Chris Lohff is the 11th seed in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 breaststroke.

Walker's Derek Onken will compete for a state title in the 200 IM as the No. 2 seed and is the No. 4 seed in the 500 freestyle.

Allatoona's Josh Hart placed third in the AAAA-A diving competition. Pope's Eric Sinsley took seventh and Kell's Austin Rives was 13th.