By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Rio Grande Valley’s last big swimming & diving meet of 2014 for high school teams takes place Friday and Saturday at Brownsville’s Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center.
The TISCA Zone/Brownsville ISD Pre-Regional Showcase is expected to attract teams from the Valley, Laredo and Corpus Christi. It will give the participants an idea of what to expect at the Region VIII-6A Meet next Feb. 6 and 7 at the ClarkCenter.
“Yes, it will be the last big meet for the Valley,” said Clark Center director Monica Rosales, who also will serve as meet director for the two-day event.
“As of right now, we’ve got 29 teams coming and close to 600 swimmers (competing),” Rosales said.
It will be a varsity-only meet with prelim competition Friday and the finals set for Saturday. The top eight swimmers and relays in the prelims advance to the championship finals, while the next eight will compete in the consolation finals.
Swimming and diving warmups start at 9:45 a.m. Friday with prelim competition to begin at 11:30 a.m. On Saturday, diving warmups begin at 8 a.m. with finals competition to follow at 9 a.m. Saturday’s swimming warmups are set for 9 a.m. with finals competition to begin at 10 a.m.
Of this weekend’s meet, Rosales said, “It’s the perfect time (for teams) to get a glimpse at what competition will come in February. It gives a coach time to evaluate and prepare for the next month and a half to train the athletes to peak at regionals.”
One year ago, the Pre-Regional Showcase was an accurate indicator of how things went at the then-Class 5A regional meet about two months later. Corpus Christi King’s boys and girls were team champions at the Pre-Regional Showcase and repeated those finishes at the regional meet.
At the 2013 Pre-Regional Showcase, the top three boys teams were King (390 points), McAllen Memorial (364) and Tuloso-Midway (189). The top three girls teams were King (393), Laredo Alexander (303) and McAllen Rowe (283).
“Not having looked at the (event) sheets yet, I would say probably King’s girls and (McAllen) Memorial’s boys are (team) favorites (this weekend),” Rosales said.