The Woodlands junior Lucie Nordmann broke a pair of Texas 6A and overall state records in prelims of the 2017 state championships.
Girls Meet
Nordmann dominated a pair of events for The Woodlands, taking top billing in the 50 free and 100 back. Her 22.68 in the 50 free broke the state record set by Humble Kingwood’s Lexie Lupton back in 2015. Lupton is now a member of the Texas A&M Aggies NCAA program that is currently leading the SEC in team points at that conference’s championship meet.
Nordmann also went 52.66 in the 100 back, breaking a record set way back in 2008 by Mary Beck out of Austin Westlake. Nordmann’s Woodlands team has the top qualifying spot in the 200 medley (1:42.04) and 400 free (3:25.09) relays as well. Nordmann was 50.02 leading off the latter and 24.66 swimming backstroke on the former.
Austin Westlake junior Dakota Luther is also set up for a pair of wins. She topped the 200 free (1:48.49) and 100 fly (53.02) out of prelims. In the butterfly, she’s just three tenths off a state record held by Olympic champ Dana Vollmer at 52.70.
Austin Westlake looks to repeat as team champs and should be one of the top contenders to win this year. Catriona MacGregor leads the 200 IM (2:01.60) and 100 breast (1:03.11) and Westlake is also seeded 1st in the 200 free relay after going 1:34.71 in prelims – more than 1.6 seconds better than the next-best team.
Boys Meet
Southlake Carroll leads the ranks in 6 of 11 swimming events as they look to repeat their team title from a year ago. The Carroll team is also just off of a number of state records.
Alex Zettle is the top seed in the 200 and 500 frees. In the 200, his 1:36.55 from this morning is just two tenths off a state record (both 6A and overall) set by current Texas Longhorn Jon Roberts in 2013. Zettle was also 4:23.00 to win the 500, though he’s a ways off the record in that.
Junior Jack LeVant won the 50 free in 20.19 and the 100 fly in 47.86. That butterfly time is seven tenths off a 2012 state record from future Stanford Cardinal Gray Umbach.
LeVant also led off a 200 medley relay that qualified first in 1:31.73 – a half-second off a state record that has stood since 1999. Southlake Carroll leads that relay by almost a full second heading into tomorrow’s finals.
And in the 400 free relay, Southlake Carroll is just two tenths off their own state record from a year ago. The team graduated just one leg, returning LeVant (43.94 on the leadoff this morning), Zettle (44.64) and senior Colter Carman (45.70). Landon Armstrong was 45.55 as the relay went 2:59.83. The record is 2:59.69.
Katy Cinco Ranch senior Glen Cowand is near a state record of his own. Cowand was 47.61 in the 100 back this morning, just three tenths away from a 6A record set in 2009. The overall record is a 46.75, also from 2009.
And Austin Lake Travis senior Ryan Gehab went 54.86 to take the top spot in the 100 breast this morning by a longshot. He’s three tenths off of Scott Spann‘s state record of 54.51 from 2006.
Finals take place on Saturday, along with finals for class 5A, for the state’s smaller schools.
Swimswam should pay attention to the girls 5A meet as well. Julia Cook of Bryan High swam a 22.49 in the 50 free prelims which is a 5A state record and overall state record. She set a state record in 100 free in prelims as well.
When this article was written, the 5A prelims hadn’t finished yet.
If you score todays results, the Woodlands are actually favored in girls by 1 point
Gulf swimmers looking good!