Texas’s newly-formed class 6A, for the state’s biggest schools, held its state swimming & diving championship over the weekend, with last year’s 5A champs Austin Westlake (girls) and Southlake Carroll (boys) repeating as state champs.
The Westlake girls were led by youngsters Victoria Edwards and Dakota Luther, while the Southlake boys got double wins from senior Carson Klein.
Girls Meet
Austin Westlake won the first state title in the new 6A meet, getting wins from their two rising stars Victoria Edwards and Dakota Luther.
Edwards, a sophomore, blew out the 100 fly field with a 53.24, a new lifetime-best by a couple tenths. Edwards topped the field by almost two seconds, but more importantly, she moves to within .54 of the Texas state record set by future Olympic champion Dana Vollmer.
Then there was Luther, just a freshman, who won the 500 free by three seconds with a 4:48.54. That’s also a lifetime-best, and sits five seconds off the state record.
The two combined to win a pair of relays for Austin Westlake. Though Edwards was the individual fly champ, Luther took over the fly leg on the 200 medley, splitting a quick 24.51, while Edwards went 25.32 on backstroke. Catriona MacGregor and Margaret Taylor joined the team to go 1:43.72, though in prelims, the group was actually a faster 1:43.21 to break the all-time and 6A state records. That relay will return in full next year, as all members are sophomores except the freshman Luther.
Austin Westlake also won the 400 free relay, with Luther leading off in 52.00 and Edwards really popping with a 50.87 split. That split also included a .37 relay exchange as the team basically only had to not DQ the relay to win the state title. Ilse Adam and MacGregor swam the final two legs to go 3:27.24. Once again, the team was made up of three sophomores and a freshman.
Edwards just missed a second win in the 100 backstroke, coming up just short of The Woodlands freshman Lucie Nordmann. Nordmann was 53.38, just a few tenths off the state record as Edwards went 53.95.
Meanwhile Luther just missed a second win in the 200 free, taking second behind Keller Fossil Ridge’s Lauren Pitzer. Pitzer, a sophomore, was the meet’s only double-individual winner, taking this race in 1:46.18 and the 100 free in 48.72.
In that 100, Pitzer topped Humble Kingwood’s Lexie Lupton, a senior and Texas A&M commit. Lupton was the meet’s only individual record-breaker, taking the 50 free in a new all-time and 6A state record of 22.73. That time came out of the prelims, but Lupton was 22.74 to win the final by a solid margin.
Lupton also split a blazing 21.99 to anchor the winning 200 free relay, joining Alejandra Shimel, Emily Bocock and Kelsey Opiela to go 1:35.17.
Other event winners:
- Pearland’s Jaden Bellina in the 200 IM (2:01.99)
- Lewisville Marcus’s Mackenzie Willborn in 1-meter diving (516.25)
- Houston Cypress Ranch’s Victoria Roubique in the 100 breast (1:03.18)
Top 5 Teams
- Austin Westlake – 221
- Humble Kingwood – 195
- Keller – 148
- The Woodlands – 144
- El Paso Franklin – 110.5
Boys Meet
Southlake Carroll won the boys title by 50 points, getting double distance free wins from senior Carson Klein.
Klein was unstoppable, pacing the 200 free (1:37.36) and 500 free (4:26.50) for Southlake, and fighting hard for both his wins. The 200 came thanks to twin 25.0 splits on the final two 50s to outlast El Paso Eastwood senior Leonardo Sanchez. The 500 was even closer, with Klein coming from behind to out-touch San Antonio Reagan sophomore Zachary Yeadon by just a tenth of a second.
Southlake also got a 1-meter diving win from junior Nathaniel Hernandez, who scored 613.75 points to rattle the state record of 622.05.
One state record did go down, and that was to the Klein High School 400 free relay. The team of Harry Sale, Robert Slaughter, Elijah Hoenshel and Eric Atkins went 3:02.32 to sneak under the old mark by just .05. Sale, a senior, led off in 45.00 to power the squad.
That same foursome also won the 200 free relay, going 1:23.29 and just missing a 22-year-old state record by .14 seconds. Sale was 20.91 leading off and Slaughter split 20.31 on his leg.
Austin Lake Travis’s Mason Tenney won twice, once individually and once with a relay. The senior went 48.56 to take the 100 fly, and also split 21.61 swimming fly on the winning 200 medley relay. Joining him were Christopher Mayer, Ben Rodgers and Matthew Connealy to go 1:32.97.
Tenney was also second in the 200 IM. That race went to Dallas Jesuit’s Brendan Feehery, a junior, in 1:47.60. Tenney was 1:48.09.
Katy Cinco Ranch took second as a team, getting a 100 back win from Glen Cowand in 48.59.
Other event winners:
- Keller senior Luke Mankus in the 50 free (20.43)
- Mansfield junior Mike Thibert in the 100 free (44.68)
- Houston Lamar senior Safa Anya in the 100 breast (55.41)
Top 5 Teams
- Southlake Carroll – 214
- Katy Cinco Ranch – 164
- Klein -126
- Austin Westlake – 102
- Dallas Jesuit – 97
There is no doubt that smaller pond does have a big effect. Oklahoma, with only 60 total public school teams in swimming, does not match up very well with Texas and their almost 500 public school swim teams, either in numbers or in depth, and sometimes not even at the Top end.
While the Texas 5A meet does not have the depth of the Texas 6A Meet, there are some fine times turned in at the top of that meet, with some fine coaches, as there are some fine times turned in at the top of the SPC meet, with again, some fine coaches and Programs.
The success of coaches and Programs really does depend on the talent level… Read more »
As concerns the SPC Championships and Mike’s evaluation of the Texas 6A State Meet.
Congrats to Mihia Oprea, the St. Mark’s Head Coach, on his 2015 Boy’s SPC Championship.
He is an excellent water-polo coach and swimming coach, as shown by his Team’s finishes at the Tisca State Water-Polo Championships, and his dominance at the SPC Swim Championships.
However, in reviewing the SPC results, only nine swims, relays and individual events included, would have even qualified on the call-up list, for the Texas 6A State Meet. That is nine swims out of 176 call-ups. That does not even include the 176 “automatic” qualifiers (Regional Champions).
So, only 9 swims, out of 352 swims, from the entire SPC would have… Read more »
What a great meet! Watched the entire thing on live stream from New York. Westlake won the girls meet and was the only school to have both boys and girls finish in the top 5. Young roster and young coaches……look out for the future! Great showing again by Southlake Caroll and their diving makes them even harder to beat.
Could you please just concentrate on getting the Knicks back on track?
This was the fifth Boy’s Texas State Championship in a row, in the large school class, for the Southlake Carroll Dragons. Carolyn Hryorchuk was selected the TISCA 6A Boy’s Diving Coach of the Year. Nate Hernandez, of Southlake Carroll was selected the Texas 6A Boy Diver of the Year. Congratulations to the entire Southlake Carroll Dragon Boy’s Swim/Dive Team.
Could we also see a recap of the Texas 5a meet?
Texas- It’s on its way! A ton of meets, both high school and college, happened over the weekend, and we’re slowly knocking them all off the list