HS Swimmers Qualify for TAPPS State Championship Swim Meet at Regionals, Wednesday, January 23, 2019. The HS Swim Team traveled to the Palo Alto College Pool in San Antonio to compete in the TAPPS Central Regional Swim Meet, which is a qualifying meet for the TAPPS State Championship Swim Meet. In order to qualify for the State Swim Meet, swimmers must finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in their regional meet. There are 3 regional meets: Central, North, and Eastern. Then the next best 7 times in each swim event among the 3 regional meets, will also qualify for the State Meet. TSD is in the Central Region.
TSD didn’t have any 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers at the Regional Meet. Our highest finisher at the Regional Meet, competing in the 50 Freestyle event, was freshman JOSUE FLORES, who came in 4th place, just missing a 3rd place finish by .01 of a second. JOSUE FLORES does qualify for the State Swim Meet as his time is one of the next best 7 times among each of the three regions. JOSUE FLORES swam the 50 Free in 25.51, just .04 off his personal best. He is the first 50 Free State qualifier since LANCE MOCK qualified in the same event back in 2015. JOSUE FLORES becomes the only freshman in TSD history to qualify for the State Swim Meet in an individual event, which is extremely difficult to do especially in the 50 Free as this event has the most entries than any other swim event.
Joining JOSUE FLORES at the TAPPS State Swim Meet as qualifiers of the TSD HS BOYS 200 Free Relay and 400 Free Relay Teams are: MARK HUERTA, sophomore, GAGE HOPPER, freshman, and IRA NEWSOME, freshman, and JOSUE FLORES, freshman. The Boys 200 Free Relay Team came in 7th place with a season best time of 1:59.81, qualify as the #5 team in the ‘next best 7 qualifying times.” Their time of 1:59.81 is only 8 seconds off the TSD record. This being a young team of 3 freshmen and 1 sophomore are most likely to break the TSD record for the 200 FREE RELAY and the 400 FREE RELAY. The same four swimmers are only 10 seconds off the TSD record in the 400 FREE RELAY with a TAPPS District Meet time of 4:22.34. At the TAPPS Regional Meet, the same four swimmers clocked in at 4:41.76, which was still good for a 4th place finish and a qualifying trip to the TAPPS State Swim Meet.
JOSUE FLORES also swam in the 100 Free, came in 11th out of 27 swimmers, with a time of 1:00.57. MARK HUERTA swam in the 100 Breast, finishing in 1:27.77, only one second removed from his personal best time of 1:26, came in 10th out of 14 swimmers. MARK HUERTA also competed in the 200 Freestyle for the first time, finishing with a time of 2:32.06, good enough for 6th place and a ribbon. GAGE HOPPER competed in the grueling 200 IM, but was disqualified, yet his effort was valiant. GAGE HOPPER also competed in the 100 Free, placing 22nd out of 27, with a time of 1: 28.67. IRA NEWSOME, who has been a remarkable most improved swimmer this winter and a true gem for years to come, has really made his mark in the Regional Swim Meet, improving by 7 seconds on his 100 Free from just 12 days prior at the District Meet, going from a 1:18.38 time to a personal best 1:11.42, placing 19th out of 27 swimmers at the Regional Meet. IRA NEWSOME, also swam in the 200 Free for the first time. He worked hard in practice in the days leading up to the Regional Swim Meet, which paid off with a sub 3-minute time of 2:59.00, earning an 8th place ribbon (out of 9 swimmers). IRA NEWSOME has really shown, in a short period of time, that he is a true promising TSD swimmer with a bright future ahead of him.
ABDUL RAHIM, Freshman, who started out not being able to swim at the beginning of the swim season to competing as a skilled swimmer in the District and Regional Swim Meets, as certainly come a long way, in a short period of time, achieved a personal best at the Regional Swim Meet in the 50 Free with a time of 46.24, placing 25th out of 26 swimmers. He improved by 4 seconds from the previous meet. ABDUL RAHIM also competed in the 100 Free, again, achieving a personal best with a time of 1:59. 07, improving by 12 seconds, eclipsing the 2-minute mark, finishing 26th out of 27 swimmers. His host grandparents were on hand to witness his now prolific swimming skill and recalled when he was not able to swim at all. When RAHIM returns to Pakistan at the end of this school year, his family shall be in for a great surprise and be able to marvel in his new swimming talents. NAEEM MUHAMMED, Junior, 2nd year swimmer, has also gone from being a “non-swimmer” to being a capable swimmer, competing in the 50 Free, with a time of 56.88, which placed him 26th out of 26 swimmers.
The TSD HS GIRLS qualify for the TAPPS State Championship Swim Meet in team fashion! All 3 relay teams make it in to the State Swim Meet, which is a 1st for the TSD Rangers!!! One of the most talented and experienced TSD relay teams in TSD Swimming history proved that they have earned this distinction having established TSD Swimming relay team records in the 200 Freestyle Relay, with a time of 2:06.63, good for 7th at the Regional Meet. A new record for the Girls 400 Free Relay was also set with a time of 4:56.15, which was a 14 second improvement from the previous meets time of 5:10, which was also a new record. The same team had broken their own record and have been the first girls relay team at TSD to break the 5-minute barrier for the Girls 400 Free Relay. The relay team includes the following four swimmers: JORDAN LEACH, Junior, JAIDA SCOTT, Senior, JEWEL ROCHA, Junior, and MARISSA GIUNTOLI, Freshman. All have qualified for the TAPPS State Championship Swim Meet in each of the 3 relays.
Each of the four swimmers also competed in one other individual event. JORDAN LEACH competed in the 100 Breaststroke finishing with a time of 1:43.81, placing in 12th out of 15 swimmers. JAIDA SCOTT swam in the 200 Free achieving a new PR time of 2:58. 27, which is also good for 2nd all time among TSD female swimmers. JAIDA SCOTT came in 10th out of 14 swimmers. JEWEL ROCHA keeps getting faster and faster in the 100 Free, has broken her own PR and TSD record, 3 consecutive times this season, swam to another PR with a time of 1:05.28, good for 9th place out of 27 swimmers. MARISSA GIUNTOLI established a new TSD record in the 200 IM with a PR time of 3:06.80, placed 7th out of 7 swimmers and earning a ribbon.
Senior, TABATHA SIMMONS, represented TSD in the Girls 500 Free, swam to a PR time of 9:10.57, placing 11th out of 11 swimmers. Senior JESSICA DAVALOS, swam in both the 50 Free (48.34, season PR, placed 28th out of 29 swimmers) and the 100 Free (2:10. 55, placed 27th out of 27). Sophomore ANABELLE WEAVER, swam in the 50 Free in 36.57, which is a new PR, placed 18th out of 29 swimmers. Freshman CASSIDY LOSH, swam in the 100 Backstroke, achieving a PR by 12 seconds with a time of 1:44.63, placing 12th out of 16 swimmers. Freshman KIARA DIAZ, competed in the 50 Free, achieved a PR with a time of 42.72, placing 24th out of 29 swimmers. In addition, KIARA DIAZ achieved a PR in the 100 Free with a time of 1:42.21, placing 26th out of 27 swimmers. KIARA and CASSIDY have both greatly improved in their swimming strokes and are a shining light for the future of TSD Girls Swimming. And we will certainly miss our seniors who have led the way these past few years: JAIDA, TABATHA, and JESSICA.
In summary, the TAPPS Regional Swim Meet was quite a successful swim meet for the TSD Swimmers. We have 8 swimmers, 4 boys and 4 girls, qualifying for the TAPPS State Swim Championships next week in Mansfield, TX (close to Dallas) on February 6, 2019. TSD has qualified in the following events: Girls 200 Medley Relay, Girls 200 Free Relay, Girls 400 Free Relay, Boys 200 Free Relay, Boys 400 Free Relay, Boys 50 Free.
Also, at the TAPPS Regional Swim Meet, the TSD Girls set new school records in the 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, 200 Individual Medley (IM), and 100 Free. Although no new TSD Boys records were set, the young TSD Boys team swimmers, mostly freshman and sophomores, are on the brink of setting new TSD Swimming Records. There were 17 new Personal Records (PR’s) among both Boys and Girls Swimmers at the Regional Meet. Ribbons were awarded for swimmers placing 1st – 8th to which the TSD Boys and Girls accumulated 24 ribbons in all.
Two swim meets remain: On Saturday, February 2, TSD will host the MS/HS TSD Sprint Swim Meet, and on Wednesday, February 6, qualifying swimmers will head to Mansfield, TX to compete in the TAPPS State Championship Swim Meet.
For full results, go to: https://tapps.biz/athletics/winter-sports/swimming/
- Nick Bannon