By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The District 32-5A swimming & diving meet brought a pleasant repeat for the Roma girls and a new experience for the PSJA Southwest boys as each team captured a championship Friday at Brownsville’s Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center.
The two-day event involved 10 schools with diving at the Sharyland ISD Aquatic Center on Thursday before the swimming finals took place the following day in Brownsville.
The Roma girls won decisively with 172 points compared to 121 for runner-up Sharyland High and 85 for third-place Sharyland Pioneer.
PSJA Southwest prevailed in the boys competition with 114 points, edging runner-up Roma, which had 110 points. Sharyland High came in next with 104 points.
It marked the third straight district title for the Roma girls, but the PSJA Southwest boys lifted a 32-5A championship trophy for the first time in the sport.
After it was all over, the coaches for the two teams, the Gladiators’ Calvin Snyder and the Javelinas’ Jonathan Landero, willingly went into the pool in street clothes, came out drenched and neither complained, well at least not too much anyway.
“I’m cold, somebody turn on the heater,” said a smiling Snyder, who is mainly responsible for turning the Roma aquatic program into a South Texas power at its classification in recent years.
“Our girls went into this meet favored, and they performed very well, set several district records and swam some personal bests, so I’m super proud of them,” the Roma coach said. “Our boys (who finished second) went into the meet (an estimated) 20 or 30 points behind (the favored team), and they wound up getting beat by only four points, so I’m very proud of them, too.
“There was tremendous competition at this meet. All the teams had fabulous swims. The Brownsville schools (Porter and Pace) were a credit to themselves. I’m just glad it’s over. I’m glad to see another title go back to Roma. The credit goes to our kids. They did all the work.”
Winning events for the Roma girls were Jocelyn Martinez (200 and 500 freestyles), Isabella Gonzalez (200 individual medley) and Marianna Canales (100 breaststroke). The Roma girls also won the 200 and 400 freestyle relays with Martinez, Gonzalez, Canales and Robin Castillo participating.
Landero said Friday’s victory marked an important step for the Javelinas.
“We started this program from scratch, and this is my third year as coach,” he said. “The key today was making sure we set up everybody (to do well). We were able to spread everyone out in the different events (to give ourselves a better chance). We felt that we were top heavy (in certain events) and that we needed to spread them out in this really tough district meet.
“When we didn’t take the 200 free relay (and placed second) it made me a little nervous, but we followed through and our guys did great,” Landero added. “Some of the ones who don’t normally win really stepped up and came through, giving us some extra points that we very much needed, so it was an awesome team effort.”
Earning first places for the Javelinas were double-winners Joseph Velasquez (200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke) and Joshua Velasquez (100 butterfly an 100 backstroke). Those two swimmers combined with Luke Singh and Zack Garza to win the 200 medley relay.
Another individual double-winner Friday was Mission Veterans Memorial’s Andrea Valdez (50 and 100 freestyles).
The top six finishers in each event at district qualified for the Region VIII-5A Meet on Feb. 5 and 6 in Corpus Christi.