The Tigersharks came to compete at this year’s 5A state meet. Through hard work and determination, the Tigersharks were able to do well and place in a variety of events. The boys team, led by Captain Jackson Shellogg, was able to place eighth out of 53 teams. The girls placed 51st.

“Swimming at my last high school swim meet was sad, but it was a great conclusion of my high school swim career,” Shellogg said. “I was pretty satisfied.”

The boys 200 medley relay made an astounding leap from 17th to 8th to qualify for A finals. Dylan Rosser swam backstroke, Logan Diggs swam breastroke, John David Cass swam butterfly and Jackson Shellogg wrapped up the race with freestyle.

“I was really excited,” Shellogg said. “The relay hyped us up, and it also set the mood for us to swim fast.”

Juniors Owen Likins and Max Young placed ninth and 14th, respectively. Both brought in vital points for a boys team eager to rank among top 10. Senior Robert Frost obtained a personal record in the 50 free while placing 12th overall. Young also placed 14th in the 100 free.

“Swimming state this year was a major accomplishment,” Frost said. “I was very excited to finally drop time in my main event, the 50 [freestyle].”

Likins set out to break Texas High’s 500 free record, and he did just that. Likins swam a 4.45.25, beat the previous record by over a second. Likins made A finals and placed 8th.

“As a little kid swimming for the club team, I always Iooked up to the record board and imagined my name being up there,” Likins said. “To finally get the record and know my name is going up on that board is just a surreal feeling.”

The boys 200 freestyle relay placed 12th in finals. Shellogg, Frost, Likins, and Young swam the event in a personal best for the relay. The boys 400 freestyle relay made A finals and placed 7th. The boys swam a 3:13.73, which was almost six seconds faster than their previous best. Senior Robert Bland also placed 11th in the 1-meter dive, tacking on points for the boys team.

The girls team gave it their all, but most unfortunately did not make finals. Haley Wood was an exception, however. Wood placed 15th in preliminaries to make finals and again placed 15th in finals.

“State in swim is very intimidating, especially for the girls. We’re used to dominating at regionals and getting our hopes high, then going to state and being put in our place,” junior Kaitlyn Rogers said. “Going into state we knew we wouldn’t do as good as we did at regionals, yet we were honored to even be able to go and represent Texas High. It was a fun experience and I’m ready to start training for next year.”

The state meet symbolized the end of an era for the seniors. The senior boys set out with a goal, and ended up becoming the most competitive team Texas High has had in the 5a era.

“I thought the meet went well. Since my Sophomore year, it was my goal to get the team to top five at State,” Shellogg said. “I was a little disappointed, but then I realized eighth was really close to fifth and we all got to swim in A finals which is really good.”