NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
MISSION — The Roma Gladiators girls swimming team needed a comeback, and that’s exactly what it got on its way to a fifth consecutive district swimming and diving championship.
Roma edged out Mission Veterans 144-131 in the District 31-5A team standings to overcome the 20-point lead the Patriots had built thanks to a strong day diving Thursday. The swimming finals were Friday at Bannworth Aquatic Center in Mission.
Gladiators senior team captain Isabella Gonzalez is a veteran of the meet but said she needed some positive thinking to remind her of her own abilities.
“I just had to come in with a good mentality, that I was going to do well, because the meets before (district) I hadn’t dropped time,” Gonzalez said. “When I got on the block, I was just telling myself, ‘I’m going to do good, I’m going to do good.’ And it ended up working out. I’ve trained hard enough to do well. I just have to think to myself that I will do good.”
Gonzalez won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:25.98, more than 20 second better than the next swimmer. She had similar success in the breaststroke, finishing nine seconds quicker than the silver medalist with a time of 1:14.25 on her way to female swimmer of the meet honors.
Rebecca Canales fought through a shoulder injury to win the 50 sprint freestyle and give the Gladiators another 9 points in the standings. Roma girls also took first in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.
The district title was the first for head coach Blanca Tello, who took over the program after longtime coach Calvin Synder retired.
Mission Veterans’ Karla Castillo had a special day, winning both the 200 and 100 freestyle races.
Her biggest triumph was reaching a four-year goal of finishing the 100 freestyle in less than one minute. She was seeded at 1:00.04 but touched the wall in 59.17 for the gold.
“Since my freshman year, I’ve always wanted to break the minute. That was my first time. I was really happy,” Castillo said. “I was focused on dropping time, not my competition.”
“It’s my last day, my senior year, and I wanted to leave it all,” Castillo said. “It’s one of my last meets in the Valley, and I wanted to do my best.”
In the boys competition, Sharyland Pioneer followed up its dramatic first district title in school history a season ago with a strong meet, leading from start to finish.
Coach Arnold Perez said coming in as champions was a new perspective, but he was obviously pleased with the result.
“Last year, we were behind like 20-some points or so,” Perez said. “This year, we were ahead by 10, so it’s a little different. Now, we had the target on our back, but the guys pulled through and pulled away. These guys are something special, for sure.”
The Diamondbacks were led by sophomores Trevor Heath and Ethan Saenz. Heath took individual gold in the 200 IM and 500 freestyle for the second straight year. Andrew Adkins also added a breaststroke and 200 freestyle gold to the Diamondbacks’ collection.
Saenz finished second in the butterfly to Sharyland High’s Luciano Farias-Ramirez but set a school record in the process.
Saenz was a part of one of the most competitive individual races of the day — the 50 freestyle. The Pioneer sophomore entered the race seeded behind Sharyland High’s Javier Suarez Moreno by more than a second.
“Just coming out of that, that just felt amazing,” Saenz said. “Honestly, it was all God’s glory, everything’s from him. I just say that I feel very honored. It feels amazing to be a part of my team. I love all my friends. They’re like brothers and sisters to me. I’m just glad to be able to contribute to this team.”
Saenz swam a 22.94, just ahead of Moreno’s time of 23.18 to clinch gold in the sprint. He said the feeling of chasing a higher ranked swimmer helped him raise his game.
“It just pushes me to become the best, or at least try,” Saenz said. “I always want something over me so I can have the motivation to overcome that person.”
Farias-Ramirez won gold in the butterfly with a 54.45 and swam a 55.92 for backstroke gold to earn top male swimmer honors.