By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
With district and regional competition just ahead in the coming months, Saturday was the perfect time for South Texas swimmers to show what they could do at the Pre-Regional Showcase at Brownsville’s Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center.
The annual Pre-Regional meet is considered a good indicator of which swimmers and divers might qualify from regionals to the UIL state meet Feb. 16-17 in Austin.
Actually, the meet’s name was changed by the organizers from “Showcase” to “Snowcase” in response to the rare snowy conditions South Texas experienced on Friday. The two-day event attracted 616 swimmers and divers representing 22 girls teams and 20 boys squads from the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio and Corpus Christi areas.
Adrian Fierro of Brownsville Veterans Memorial was one of the meet standouts as he won the boys 50 and 100 freestyles with personal-best times of 21.68 seconds and 47.67 seconds.
Fierro, a senior who recently signed to compete at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, said his swims on Saturday give him added confidence that he will be able to qualify for the UIL state meet for the first time.
“I dropped times from my personal bests (in both events), so that was great,” Fierro said. “This meet allows you to see where you’re at (against the competition).
“I’ve been practicing a lot and I think I’m on course (to make it to state),” he added. “We also broke our high school record for the 200 freestyle relay today and that was a big plus, too.”
Also for the Chargers, Nicolas Alvarez (359.35 points) and Carlo Pereira (261.60) finished 1-2 in the boys 1-meter diving.
Brownsville Veterans coach Frank Sanchez said his team had a strong showing overall by finishing sixth in the girls division and eighth in the boys division against a combined field of Class 6A and 5A teams.
“I think our people swam out of their minds today,” Sanchez said. “The relays were just phenomenal. Sometimes when it’s a two-day meet, the times are kind of hit or miss on the second day (finals), and for our swimmers to come back after the first day and drop seven, 10 and 15 seconds in some of the relays and other events, it’s just amazing.
“I think we’re right on pace (for district and regionals),” Sanchez added. “Our people are at a different level now and they understand they can get there (to state). I just think they have to continue working hard and doing what they’re doing. I don’t know what (nourishment) they’re eating (to help them improve), but they should keep eating it.”
Los Fresnos captured the girls team title with 227 points. Rounding out the top seven girls teams were McAllen Memorial (200 points), Harlingen South (182), Laredo United (171), St. Joseph Academy (140) and a tie between Brownsville Veterans (139) and Tuloso-Midway (139).
“I feel great about our girls and boys,” Los Fresnos coach Jaime Perez said. “This pre-regional meet really helps us out because Friday we were able to qualify for the finals and today we were able to record some personal bests and have some other highlights. Our boys broke the school record in the 400 freestyle relay (with a first-place time of 3 minutes, 20.91 seconds).”
Swimming on the relay for the Falcons were Danny Escamilla, Luis Osuna, Carlos Paredes and Will McKinney.
Also, the Los Fresnos girls won the 400 freestyle relay in 4:02.14. The swimmers were Rebeca Osuna, Maria Manongas, Alex Alaniz and Emily Rodriguez.
Laredo United captured the boys team title with 320 points. The next six teams were McAllen High (211.5 points), Tuloso-Midway (179), Los Fresnos (177), Sharyland Pioneer (162) and a tie between Sharyland High (146) and McAllen Memorial (146).
Besides Fierro, double-winners for the boys included Harlingen South’s Justin Diaz (200 individual medley and 500 freestyle) and McHi’s Shaine Casas (100 butterfly and 100 backstroke).
Double-winners for the girls included SJA’s Jessie Hainley (50 and 100 freestyles) and Tuloso-Midway’s Zoe Garcia (200 and 500 freestyles).
Next up for local swimmers will be the annual Brownsville City Meet on Dec. 22 at the Clark Aquatic Center.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess