Tigersharks dive into success against Mansfield and Lake Ridge
More stories from Tyler Snell
Photo by Kristin McCasland
Sophomore Alex Jones competes in the fly at the Mansfield swim meet.
Boys and girls swim teams marked a W on the schedule this past weekend in Mansfield. The teams defeated Mansfield and Lake Ridge High Schools.
The boys’ 200 yard medley relay opened the meet with a first place finish, consisting of seniors Zack Norton and Seth Ream, and juniors Conor Diggs and Zack Wolf.
The boys’ side captured another first place with the 200 yard freestyle relay, which included Norton, Wolf, junior Tyler Snell and sophomore Reid Porter. Porter and Ream also tied for first in the 50 yard freestyle.
“I think everyone is swimming fine and well, [and I’m] not really worried at all this year,” Norton said. “We are all working great and hard, and I think it will be a successful year.”
The success and high spirits was also carried over to the girls side. Senior Lexi Watkins won the 50 yard freestyle, and junior Kristin McCasland won the 100 yard butterfly.
“The meet went better than expected, [and] I had no idea our team could overall beat a 6A school,” Watkins said. “Everyone thinks that the girls team is starting off solid, which we are.”
Fellow team captain and senior Oralia Basurto-Ruiz also felt that this meet demonstrated what the team is capable of.
“Everyone [was] close to their fastest times,” Basurto said. “So I think that they are going to go even faster.”
The strokes went well for the Tigersharks, but team captain Norton feels that the team struggled in some places due to the fact that it was the first meet.
“We had some guys who didn’t swim their bests, but it was their first meet,” Norton said. “We are getting back into the shake of things.”
This feeling was mutually held by Head Coach Carl Auel, and he thinks that this meet showed what the team has to keep working on.
“Our weakness right now is our sprint freestyle,” Auel said. “So that is something that we need to improve in.”
Every team’s goal is to advance in the rankings, and for the Tigersharks the dive team is an important aspect of this.
“We all have some dives we need to work on,” team captain and senior diver Calvin Lourens said. “We had a couple fail dives, but it was the first meet, so we need to work on that.”
The Tigersharks are optimistic about the year ahead and feel that this meet was just the beginning.
“I think that we are going to go far,” Basurto said. “And that there [are] going to be more people that go to state.”
The Tigersharks are home against Tyler Lee this Saturday at 1 p.m.
Tyler Snell is a third-year newspaper staff member and a senior at Texas High. He is the current print co-editor-in-chief with star-crossed lover, Anna...
Kristin McCasland is a senior at Texas High. She has been on the newspaper staff for 3 years and and the photography staff for 2 years. Kristin is editor-in-chief...
