BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
What began as a routine pre-district swim meet turned into a lesson in crisis management for Luciano Farias-Ramirez.
As the Sharyland High sophomore entered the water during Saturday’s Halloween Hysteria competition at the Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center in Brownsville to begin the 200-yard medley relay, Farias-Ramirez noticed the scoring touchpad had sunk to the bottom of the pool. His attempts to alert officials were fruitless, and the starting gun fired as he was out of position.
“He didn’t get going until about five seconds after the race had already started,” Sharyland coach Tina Jensen said. “I said, ‘Next time, just go. I don’t know what to tell you in those situations.’”
Though the Rattlers recovered for a third-place finish with a time of 1 minutes, 53 seconds, Farias-Ramirez exorcised his frustrations during the boys 200 freestyle, winning gold in 1:53.77, nearly three seconds better than the runner-up.
“I think he let off a little steam in that one,” Jensen said.
Farias-Ramirez collected another individual medal in the 100 backstroke, winningsilver in 57.60. Farias-Ramirez qualified for the state swim meet in the backstroke last year. Jensen says she’s encouraged by his early swims, but she’d like to see his times improve to the 49-second range by season’s end.
“We’re always working hard, trying to get better as the season progresses,” Jensen said. “I don’t begin to taper until after regionals. District isn’t the only goal for us, I want us to be competitive at the next level, as well.”
The Sharyland boys team won first place at the meet. Javier Moreno won silver in the 50 freestyle (23.39). The girls were led in part by diver Sandra Valdez, who placed second in the girls 1-meter diving competition.
EARLY FATIGUE
Roma spent its Saturday in Brownsville as well, participating in the team’s first meet of the season. Though the Gladiators were fresh on paper, coach Calvin Snyder saw otherwise.
“There were a lot of tired legs out there,” Snyder said. “We swam tired, but I knew we would. I expected that. We’ve been going harder in our practices.”
Despite the early-season fatigue, the Gladiators received notable individual performances in Luis Lozano, who won bronze in the boys 200 IM with a personal-best time of 2:18.73. Teammate Ahren Trevino placed second in the boys 100 fly (59.67)
The Roma boys and girls each placed fifth as a team. The Lady Gladiators were without senior swimmers Jocelyn Martinez and Veronica Polanco on Saturday. Both were taking their ACT exams.
HALLOWEEN SWIM
RGV swim teams are back in the pool this weekend at the Pharr Aquatic Center. The diving competition begins at 1 p.m. Friday and swimmers begin competing at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.