Texas High School Swimming & Diving Championships – 6A Boys
- February 17-18, 2023
- Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center, Austin, Texas
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Live Results
There were lots of changes in the Texas high school swimming & diving season this year. A new 4A and under championship for the state’s smallest schools, a star changing programs, and a new first-time team state champion in boys’ Class 6A, home to the state’s biggest schools, marked a touchstone meet on Saturday in Austin.
Buoyed by a group of underclassmen, Keller High School won its first-ever state swimming & diving championship with 260 points, 22 points ahead of The Woodlands.
Top 5 Teams, Boys Meet
- Keller – 260
- The Woodlands – 238
- Kingwood – 137
- Vandegrift – 133.5
- Clements High School – 131
Among the contributors for Keller High was sophomore Maximus Williamson, who last year swam for Southlake Carroll’s title-winning team before transferring. Carroll finished 9th this season.
Williamson opened his finals session by swimming the backstroke leg of the runner-up 200 medley relay. He split 22.46, the fastest of the field, on the backstroke leg, but it was The Woodlands who won the race in 1:29.81.
The Woodlands’ relay was Ryan Rautenbach (23.03), Tyler Tannenberger (24.58), Roberto Bonilla Flores (22.00), and CJ Sorensen (20.20). Their winning time broke The Woodlands’ own State Record of 1:30.08 set at the 2021 championship. Keller’s time of 1:29.88 was also under that old record.
Keller anchor River Paulk had the fastest freestyle leg; Clements’ Logan Brown split 24.39 on the breaststroke leg and Hayden Belotti split 20.72 on the fly leg for the fastest splits in their respective strokes as the Rangers finished in 4th place.
Williamson got his first win of the meet in the 200 IM, touching in 1:42.17. That knocked a second-and-a-half off his own State Record of 1:43.70 set at last year’s meet as a freshman. That also moves him within eight-tenths of a second of David Nolan’s legendary high school record of 1:41.39 set more than a decade ago in Pennsylvania.
The swim is a tenth shy of his best from the Winter Junior Championships – West meet that is the 2nd-fastest swim in 15-16 age group history.
The runner-up in that race was Clements’ Logan Brown, who swam 1:45.12. That was .01 seconds shy of the Texas A&M commit’s personal best, but his highlight of the meet would come later in the day.
Later in the day, Brown won the 100 breaststroke in 52.86, his first time under 53 seconds. That moves him to 37th in the all-time 17-18 rankings and makes him the third-best breaststroker in the class of 2023 (behind William Heck from Florida at 52.38 and Nate Germonprez from Nebraska at 52.59). Brown is only 17.
The Woodlands had three swimmers in the top six of that 100 breaststroke, led by senior Roberto Bonilla in 2nd place in 54.62. Junior Tyler Tannenberger was 3rd in 55.42 and Caleb Gallagher was 6th in 55.81.
Williamson got a second individual win later in the meet in the 100 backstroke in 47.24, successfully defending that title as well. That missed the 6A record by .15 seconds and the overall state record by half-a-second.
Williamson isn’t the only USA Swimming National Junior Teamer on the Keller’s boys’ team. Junior Cooper Lucas also won two individual events, starting with the 200 free.
He won that race in 1:35.34, which was 2.6 seconds ahead of runner-up Danny Bishop. That is Lucas’ third-straight Texas state title in the 200 free.
Lucas was .05 seconds faster in his winning 2022 effort.
Later in the meet, he would win a second-straight title in the 500 free, finishing in 4:19.40.
Lucas also led Keller to their first-ever relay title. He swam the second leg of the 200 free relay that won by a full second in 1:21.93. River Paulk (20.50), Lucas (20.16), Jacob Fabian (20.81), and Riccardo Osio (20.46) were on the winning relay. Of that group, only Fabian is a senior.
Keller finished the meet with another relay title, this time with both of their individual stars in tow. Williamson led off in 42.75, followed by Lucas (44.26), freshman Maxwell Stanislaus (46.26), and Collin Quickstad (45.64).
Of the eight swimmers who contributed to Keller’s relays, just one is graduating at the end of this season.
It was a big day overall for A&M commits. Besides brown, Ben Scholl from Cy Woods tied for first in the 50 free in 19.94 to defend his title. He tied Westwood senior Sonny Wang for the title. Wang was 2nd last year.
Clements’ Hayden Bellotti was 3rd in 19.99, with the top three all under 20 seconds.
Scholl and Wang would go head-to-head in the 100 free later in the meet, where Scholl would win, this time alone, in 43.42. That was a tenth ahead of Wang’s 43.52.
Bellotti, runner-up in the 50 free, came out of the dive break to win the 100 fly in 46.67. That broke the 6A Record of 46.99 set by Prosper’s Jacob Wimberly in prelims, which in turn broke Noah Henry‘s 47.07 from 2018.
The overall State Record of 46.09 is Connor Foote’s from the 2022 5A meet.
Bellotti, a Virginia commit, didn’t swim this 100 fly at last year’s state meet. Instead, there, he was 5th in the 50 free and 7th in the 100 free.
Rock Hill’s Luke Sitz won boys’ 1-meter diving in 599.75. Last year, he was 5th in the 5A meet, but his school jumped to 6A this year and he won the title.
Keller Nation!
Congratulations to all of the athletes that were talented enough to compete in the Texas State Meet.
Can we get to the women’s recap and away from the drama?
xx
Regardless of Maximus Williamson’s decision to move to Keller, more kids have suffered than just the elite few posted about on swim swam. We have had to watch our club team crumble at our fingertips due to the lack of leadership at the administrative level. Watching grown adults bicker online (or in person) trying to defend their side of the story has grown to be ridiculous. It was never about the kids, but rather the egos from parents who live vicariously through their children’s lives. When reading this article and filing through the comments, think about the kids involved and how their swimming career was impacted by a bunch of immature adults.
Maybe I am a little late to the conversation but can anyone explain why the SLC boys were allowed to transfer to Keller and NOT sit out a year like every other transfer kid in the state has to do?
Because there is no rule that requires transfers to sit out a year in every situation. If someone told you that was the case, they were mistaken.
Here is the full list of rules if you want to read them:
https://www.uiltexas.org/files/constitution/uil-ccr-subchapter-m.pdf
There is a lot of nuance in the rules, and I am not familiar enough with each swimmer’s situation to know exactly what went down for each. I did hear that MW had a hearing and was cleared, so, they must have found that he was in compliance with the rules.
Section 440 B.4 and 440 D state otherwise.
See Coach Murphy’s comment below. It explains everything.
In the end, their 50 free did put up more sub 20 times, but I think VHSL Class 4 trumps them with Heilman’s at 19.68 and Whitfield at 19.73.
Whitfield then went on to split a blistering 19.14 as the anchor leg of Jefferson Forest’s 200 free relay team.
It was bananas.
SL will only fall father down the list over the next couple of years. Once Max Hatcher leaves for Texas they have no one to fill his events or leadership. As a matter of fact, he could be there only individual scorer next year.
The girls lose three double event senior scores in Hailey Hildenbrand, Alexis Drap, and Kate Hentiz. All were major players in all three relays.
Nice thoughts, the title you chose does fit you.
I wonder exactly who you are?
It would be nice to know, but I doubt you will come out from the shadows.
Perhaps you are one of the “toxic” people that posted on this Swim Swam website last August?
I am tired of standing quietly by, and seeing 18 years of hard work building our successful Southlake Carroll HS Program, faithfully serving the Southlake swimmers and parents, and continue to be undermined by people of poor character, hiding in the Swim Swam online comment shadows.
It is a shameful that you chose to bring up this subject.
I have stayed quiet and served the kids and parents… Read more »
yikes brother
My brother in Christ this is high school swimming, not some transfer-portal college football type of deal. Let the kids enjoy the sport!
Coach Murphy – I’m not questioning the facts of what you wrote, but unless Trash Talker’s post was edited, your reaction seems out of proportion to the comment. That post didn’t question the coaching or the methods or bring up the NTN incident.
And while we are at it, was it necessary to describe the Woodlands performance as faltering? Seems pretty unnecessary as well.
Well said!
Let’s be honest Coach Murphy. All I was saying is SL will have a hard time replacing 3 senior girls and up and coming boy scoring wise.
You want to know why people don’t want to swim for you or go to school in SL. It’s simple.
The school district is not what it once was in most people eyes. They’ve, school district, has had Multiple US Government investigation into the treatment of students. Teachers are leaving left in right over pay and poor work conditions. You are lucky, you’re not in the classroom with these disrespectful kids. Being a teacher is a lot hard than being a coach.
As far as swimming goes… Be VERY THANKFUL… Read more »
Enough internet for you Mrs. Williamson
Sorry. Trash Talker is not Mrs. Williamson. As a matter of fact, I’m not even a Southlake Parent or have a swimmer in this fight. Just someone who follows North Texas Swimming and Texas High School swimming.
In response to the comments on our schools and children….Southlake Carroll is one of the most coveted public schools in the state of texas. The simple truth is everyone hates southlake carroll because they aren’t Southlake Carroll. Nobody in the state of texas with the exception of private/charter school and perhaps Austin westlake kids would turn down getting the opportunity to go to Slc. You call our children disrespectful because you are jealous of what they have. Say whatever you want but at the end of the day our kids are 1. smarter 2. scoring higher on sat/act 3. scoring higher on staar. 4. winning almost every sport at the state level consistently. 5. consistory winning the “lone star cup”… Read more »
Okay maybe there’s some of that. But by the same tolken, this is “COVER US BUT DON’T TALK ABOUT US” mentality that would make some people want to avoid SLC.
Sir,
Feel free to air out your laundry online, however, there is no need to give backhanded accolades. You might be best served to discuss your own team’s success or challenges without bringing up other teams, coaches, or clubs. Making accusations, you do appear toxic and really sound like you’re making a bunch of excuses while slinging insults. While you claim to finally share your voice in defense of your team, you take the opportunity to belittle the success of others. I would much rather read a response acknowledging the wonderful swimmers that you are working with while gracefully ignoring the trash talk found in some of these comments.
It is upsetting to see verbal attacks on young athletes in this difficult sport but more… Read more »
You gotta let that anger go Coach, it’s not good for the kids and def not good for you.
When you been through things like this, there a feelings on both sides, which really leads us to the facts of what has happened to your program and NTN are somewhere in the middle of the way every feels.
Next man up attitude is what needs to happen here. Oh well, someone left regardless of who it is, why care? You have student athletes with you who look up to you. The hell with everything else, you’ve been to successful in the UIL to care what others think or feel. Move on
I saw athletes with with BLUE (KHS) and GREEN swim caps (SOCL) cheering for one another at UIL 6A Regionals in Midland, Texas two weeks ago. Coach, observe your athletes showing “Sportsmanship,” and friendships with those from other schools. It is time to be accountable. It’s not about “them” versus “us.” All of these athletes work hard in and outside the water and deserve better than this. I am proud of all the athletes from every high school that had swimmers compete at Texas UIL 6A State Championship this weekend. For those reading this garbage, the kids do not have the same vengeance as the words spoken by Kevin Murphy, SOCL Head Swim Coach.
Agree – EVERYONE does know that Maximus Williamson transferred for athletic purposes and anyone who says otherwise is just not being truthful. The fact that he was allowed to participate this year is simply ridiculous.
Your kids are probably at a Rec swim club
There is always ebb and flow in the roster, and it’s never ideal to lose someone like Max Hatcher as he soon moves on to bigger and better stages of his career. But the Dragon boys have some very strong swimmers remaining and more stars coming soon out of the current 8th grade class who can’t wait to wear that green. We are very excited to be headed to the team in the Fall, working with Coach Murphy, and helping to build the next era of Dragon greatness in the pool. We are looking forward, not backward, and would love to see everyone else do the same. Whether it’s Carroll or Keller, this area has some amazing swimmers who are… Read more »
Isn’t Williamson 16, not 17?
Also, Ben Scholl is from Cypress Woods, not the Woodlands.