For the beginning of their seasons, the Tigersharks and Lady Tigersharks win while hosting 18 different high schools at the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association Meet held at Texarkana College’s Pinkerton Center Nov. 20-21, 2015. The boys won with 628 points over runner-up Nacogdoches High School with only 419. The girls won with 647 points over Robert E. Lee High School.

The meet began with the girls winning the 200 yard medley relay consisting of juniors Ohemaa Barnes and Linley Murdock, sophomore Kristen Clayton and senior Kristin McCasland.

“The meet went really well, considering both the girls’ and guys’ teams won first place,” McCasland said. “I’m most excited for regionals and state because they’re really fun meets, and there’s always a lot of great memories made.”

The boys also won the 200 yard medley relay consisting of seniors Luke Calhoon, Conor Diggs, and Jacob Shaw and junior Reid Porter. Calhoon went on to win the 200 yard individual medley and place third in the 100 yard backstroke.

“The meet went extremely well for us. A lot of people went their fastest at this meet and not only did our A relays do well, but so did our B and C relays,” Diggs said. “The rest of the season is going to be great because a bunch of us are going fast, and we haven’t even shaved or tapered yet.”

Top three finishes were also captured by sophomore Abby Hill who placed second in the 200 yard freestyle. On the boys side, senior Tyler Snell placed second in the 200 yard free and third in the 500 yard free. Porter won the 50 yard free with senior Dylan Gray placing second and Shaw capturing the bronze.

“We had a few swimmers that went back to back [in events] and their times still impress me,” Porter said. “Going hard on the first day was easy, but day two was when I felt challenged the most because, not only are you going against your friends that you’ve swam with for who knows how long, but you also have to swim against people that you don’t how they will swim and this goes for the rest of the season.”

McCasland took silver in the 50 yard free and 100 yard butterfly for the girls while Porter won gold for the boys in the fly. The boys also won the 200 yard free relay consisting of Porter, Snell, sophomore Casey Williams and senior Zack Wolf.

“I think everybody swam really well,” interim head coach Eric Vogan said. “We had some really good swims and some that need some improvement, but as a whole the team did really well.”

In the 100 yard breaststroke, Clayton won the event for the girls and Gray took home the gold medal for the boys.

“I think the meet went great because the majority of the team made it to finals,” Gray said. “We have a strong team this year, and I see the team making it really far this season with district, regionals and state.”

The meet was completed with the girls winning the 400 yard free relay consisting of McCasland, Barnes, junior Cathryn Payne and freshman Kaylee Norton. The boys also won gold with Calhoon, Wolf, Diggs and Snell leading the charge.

“The rest of the season should be great. We have a couple of big meets coming up before district,” Vogan said. “After district, we will be preparing for the regionals meet where I think we should perform really well.”

The Tigersharks and Lady Tigersharks will be back in action Dec. 5 at Mansfield followed by a two day meet in Frisco.