By KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The final day of the HCISD Winter Splash Bash wrapped up Saturday at the district’s aquatic center.
Laredo United’s boys placed first with 430 points, and Laredo Alexander’s girls team also took first place with 386 points.
“ The teams were really good and competitive,” Harlingen High’s Mckenna Stock said. “For me, both Sharyland High and Brownsville St. Joseph were my toughest competition. All I can say is they really know how to swim.”
Stock competed in the girls 200-yard freestyle and placed third with a time of 2 minutes, 17.74 seconds. She also took part in the girls 100 freestyle, where she placed fifth in 1:01.60.
The Lady Cards as a team finished second with 252 points, and the boys team finished sixth with 193 points.
As for Harlingen South, the boys team finished fourth with 249 points, and the Lady Hawks wound up fifth with 213.5 points.
Hawks sophomore Justin Diaz checked in a strong performance, placing first in the boys 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.23 and second in the boys 200 freestyle with a time of 1:52.57.
“ I feel like I still need to do some work,” Diaz said. “But with my breaststroke, I felt more confident with it today, and that was I was worried about coming into today, but now I feel much better about it. Today I feel like I took the right step with district coming up in a few weeks.”
Another Hawks athlete who shined was Patrick Davila, who competed in the boys 400 freestyle relay, the 100 backstroke, the 200 medley relay and the boys 200 freestyle.
Davila placed second in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.63, and first in the boys 100 backstroke with an impressive time of 58.23.
“ Right now I’m feeling a little tired and hungry, but I felt we as a team did really well today,” Davila said. “We picked up where we left off from the Christmas break, and that is a good thing for us moving forward.”
Davila had prepared for the 100 backstroke and liked his chances to win the race.
“ I took a look at where I was placed, and I felt I had a really good shot of winning,” Davila said. “I came in with a goal in mind, and I didn’t want to hit a 58, I was shooting for a 57, but I felt I was able to pick up where I left off, and we feel good as a team heading towards district.”
For the Lady Bloodhounds, Jessie Hainley had herself a weekend. Hainley finished first in the girls 200 freestyle with a time of 2:04.88, and first place in the girls 50 freestyle with a time of 26.16.
St. Joseph’s girls finished eighth with 160 points, Brownsville Veterans Memorial was seventh with 167, Brownsville Hanna took ninth with 105 and Brownsville Pace wound up 19th with two points.
For the boys, Brownsville Veterans finished eighth with 132 points, Hanna placed 10th with 53 and St. Joseph took 11th with 39 points.