Twenty-two members of the Tigershark swim and dive team advanced to the regional swim meet on Feb. 9-10 after strong performances at the district swim meet held in the Texarkana ISD Aquatic Center on Jan. 27.
After a third place team finish for the girls’ team and a first place team finish for the boys in the district swim meet, the Tigersharks will travel to New Canney, north of Houston, to compete in their regional meet. In years past, the regional meet for the Tigersharks took place in the Dallas metroplex area.
“It’s pretty expected for us to perform well at the district meet,” senior Nash Orena said. “We just really need to prepare for regionals.”
The swimmers use the time before the regional meet to practice in a manner where they can both conserve energy and perfect their strokes.
“Since we were out of school for the ice week, we didn’t have as much practice leading up to district as we would have hoped,” sophomore Lilian LeFors said.
Members of the team have their own personal goals they hope to achieve as they go into this regional meet.
“I don’t know if I will make it to state this year,” sophomore Maya Olson said. “I am hoping to make it to A-finals, which is the top eight swimmers at regionals.”
Other members on the team aim higher and hope to leave the team with a bang.
“I feel pretty excited,” senior Kiersten Malone said. “I’ve never qualified for all four of my events before and I got medals [at district] for all of my events.”
Making the podium at district proves as a rewarding experience for all the swimmers effort over the years
“Getting a podium at district is a kind of result for your hard work from the whole year,” Orena said. “This is one of the bigger meets of the season so it’s a very rewarding thing.”
The seniors who qualify for the regional meet face the likelihood of competing for the very last time.
“I’ve been swimming since I was in sixth grade,” Orena said. “All that hard work is going to boil down to those last six minutes I’m going to spend in the water competing.”
