By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
The District 32-5A swimming & diving meet reached a new level of competition Friday at Brownsville’s Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial had captured the two previous boys and girls 32-5A team titles in fairly decisive fashion. But things changed this year with the addition of PSJA Southwest and PSJA Memorial to make it a six-team district. Previously, 32-5A consisted of only four Brownsville schools for swimming and diving.
Still, the Brownsville Veterans girls, with their squad of eight swimmers, again won district. A 34-point margin of victory made it three 32-5A championships in a row for the Lady Chargers.
The change from previous district meets took place in the boys division, where PSJA Southwest came from behind during the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, to edge the Chargers for the team title by just two points, 158-156.
Brownsville Veterans went into the last event with a two-point lead. By winning the 400 freestyle relay in 3 minutes, 35.30 seconds, the Javelinas surged ahead of the Chargers for the boys team title. Brownsville Veterans came in second in the event in 3:43.65.
Third place in the boys team standings belonged to Lopez with 84 points.
“Our boys kept themselves in it all the way down to that last relay, and that’s what it came down to,” Brownsville Veterans coach Frank Sanchez said. “My hat is off to PSJA Southwest. Their guys did a fantastic job.
“That’s what happens,” he added. “You win by a couple of points, or you lose by a couple. That’s what it came down to today. PSJA Southwest brought a lot of good competition to the meet. It’s great. We don’t want complacency (at our district meet with not many real challenges). We don’t want to come into this meet feeling too comfortable.
“For our younger group (of swimmers and divers), I think it’s going to light a little fire under them. Our district is not just a walk in the park. It’s getting more and more competitive.”
The Brownsville Veterans girls won with 159 points. Porter was the runner-up girls team with 125 points. Lopez took third with 80 points.
Winning individual events for the Lady Chargers were Daniela Chapa (200 individual medley and 500 freestyle), Daniela Santillana (50 freestyle), Salma Mena (100 backstroke) and Karen Rodriguez-Lua (100 breaststroke).
The Lady Chargers took first place in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays, which consisted of swimmers Santillana, Chapa, Mena and Karen Rodriguez-Lua.
The Porter girls won the 200 medley relay with swimmers Ayali Pena, Brittany Federico, Leticia Ruiz Queda and Joleen Carrizales.
Other individual event winners for the girls included PSJA Memorial’s Gianna Salinas (100 and 200 freestyles) and Pace’s Diana Garza Garcia (100 butterfly).
The Brownsville Veterans boys were led by individual event winners Adrian Rodriguez (50 and 100 freestyles), Javier Garcia (200 freestyle) and Nico Alvarez (1-meter diving).
The Javelinas boasted a pair of individual event double-winners in Issac Velasquez (200 and 500 freestyles) and Luke Singh (100 butterfly and 100 backstroke). Another individual event winner for the Javelinas was Rodrigo Uria (100 breaststroke).
The PSJA Southwest boys won all three relays with swimmers Velasquez, Singh, Mauricio Uria, Rodrigo Uria, Carlos Padron and Jorge Salas-Garcia.
It was a two-day 32-5A meet at the Clark Center. Diving was Thursday and swimming Friday. The top six finishers from each event at district advance to the regional competition next Friday and Saturday in Corpus Christi.