By STEFAN MODRICH | The Brownsville Herald
The District 32-6A meet held Friday at the Weslaco Independent School District Aquatic Center was an opportunity for some of the area’s top swimmers to tune up before the regional meet, and also gave some up-and-comers their chance to shine.
Next week, the stage will shift to the Margaret Clark Aquatic Center in Brownsville for the regional meet.
“I saw the kids swimming to their potential today,” Weslaco High swimming coach Alexandra Trevino said. “Some of them have a little bit left in reserve, and I think they’re really going to knock it out of the park next week at regionals.”
While Los Fresnos dominated the district event, there were some standouts and surprises, from Brownsville Hanna to Weslaco High and the Harlingen schools.
“I think it’s a great thing to be in such a competitive district because it drives my kids to do their best,” Trevino said. “Sometimes you can swim according to the field that you’re in.”
Fresh off setting a pool record, Los Fresnos senior Luis Osuna will seek his third straight trip to Austin. Senior Robert Waters, Jesse Roblero (third in the 200-yard freestyle and second in the 500 freestyle), Matthew Vasquez (first in 100 breastroke) and Nate Layva (fourth in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley) also should be strong contenders for state qualification. Twelve Los Fresnos boys qualified for the regional meet, as did 11 girls.
The Lady Falcons cleaned up in the relay events, and the Falcons finished no worse than third in any relay event.
“I’m extremely proud of these kids,” Los Fresnos coach Jaime Perez said. “Success is a byproduct of hard work, and we work hard every day. We swim with three things, our body, our mind, and our heart. And at the next stage, we’re going to need all three at 100 percent.”
Harlingen High and Harlingen South boasted some of the top individual girls performances in the district. Mckenna Stock finished first in the 200 freestyle (2:10.74) and the Lady Cardinals took second in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Ian Fredrickson finished second for the Cardinals in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.91).
Harlingen South coach Hector Castañeda said his swimmers have been prepared all season for the opportunity to showcase their talent at the regional level.
“This isn’t something that starts now,” Harlingen South coach Hector Castañeda said. “This is something that was installed in the beginning. We wanted to get more people going to regionals than the year before, which we did. We always want to build off of what we did last year.”
Justin Diaz won the 200 individual medley (2:03.05) for the Hawks, and Camille Lizada won the 100 fly (1:06.96) for the Lady Hawks.
Harlingen High’s Amber Warner won the girls 1-meter dive competition (346.80), and Harlingen South’s Seth Garza (332.95) won the boys competition.
Hanna’s Nadia Gutierrez won the 100 freestyle (57.64) and 100 backstroke (1:06.12) The Hanna Eagles and Lady Eagles finished in fourth place overall.
Rivera’s Korinna Errizuriz finished third in the 200 individual medley (2:42.76), and Kyle Shea finished second in the 100 fly (57.58 seconds).
Two of the top boys at the district competition were Weslaco High seniors Brock Bloomquist (16 points) and Daryl Wells (15 points).
Bloomquist and Wells were part of the first-place 200 medley relay team that, at 1:46.28, finished more than three seconds ahead of second-place Harlingen South. Wells swam the fastest leg of the relay, clocking in at 23.95 seconds.
The duo also recorded Weslaco High’s fastest legs of its 200 freestyle relay, with Bloomquist finishing in 23.18 seconds and Wells finishing in 22.88 seconds.
Individually, Wells finished first in the 100 fly (53.38 seconds) and third place in the 100 backstroke (56.96 seconds). Wells was named the male athlete of the meet by the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association.
Trevino said Bloomquist and Wells are “two of the hardest working kids I’ve ever had.”
The Weslaco High girls are an inexperienced bunch, with Charlie Cruz the lone senior. But junior Kyana Reyes could make a splash in the regional. Reyes earned two points for her team and the Lady Panthers qualified for the regional meet in all three relay events — the 200 medley, the 200- freestyle and the 400 freestyle.
Trevino said that while her girls are “still developing as swimmers,” she sees the relay as a potential pathway to state qualification.
“Our goal is to get more kids qualified to the state meet this year,” Trevino said. “In the past few years we’ve had one individual go each year, and that was the first time that Weslaco had any individuals attend the state meet.”
In District 32-5A, the Brownsville Veterans Lady Chargers won their third straight district title, and the boys finished second behind district champion PSJA Southwest. The Porter Cowgirls were the runner-up, and the Lopez Lobos and Lady Lobos finished third. The Cowgirls won the 200 medley relay.
The PSJA Southwest boys swept the relays. Issac Velasquez captured the 200 and 500 freestyles, Luke Singh took first in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, and Rodrigo Uria won the 100 breaststroke for the Javelinas.
Adrian Rodriguez led the Chargers, winning the 50 and 100 freestyles, followed by Javier Garcia, who won the 200 freestyle, and Nico Alvarez (1-meter diving). Individual event winners 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). Brownsville Veterans won the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle girls relays.
PSJA Memorial’s Gianna Salinas won the 100 and 200 freestyles, and Pace’s Diana Garza Garcia won the 100 butterfly.