After the swim team crushed regionals Feb. 7-8 in Mansfield, eight athletes are headed to state Feb. 21-22 to hopefully bring home some medals.
Seventeen Bearcats competed in different races earlier this month as swimmers prepared to take on the waves at the regional meet..
While the sting of chlorine filled the air, the buzz of competition was even stronger.
Among the students who advanced, sophomore Kale Roberson said his eyes were set on state as soon as he made it to regionals.
“This year I wanted to at least make it to regionals,” Roberson said. “After seeing the side sheet, I was hoping to get to state. I like how competitive it is. I have had more competition this year than in the past, it’s a lot more enjoyable.”
Along with Roberson, senior Victoria Crews is once again headed to state. This is her fourth consecutive season to return to Austin, and after swimming for five years, Crews said she focused on improving her time over the season to land her at state. She said there have been so many things that have made her final season memorable.
“I would say going to swim meets and having fun and seeing all my friends from other teams and socializing,” she said.
Swim coach Meghan Roberson said this season has been incredible for the entire team, and these students have put in the work to punch their ticket to state.”
“Our hope was that we would come in strong this year,” Coach Roberson said. “We had some teams move out of our district that moved into 6A, so it left an opening there, and we capitalized and that into runners up this year in district, which was a great performance by the whole team, and helped us really get to this point in the regionals. These guys wake up earlier enough to meet me at the parking lot at 5:30 a.m., which shows their dedication as an athlete, and I couldn’t be more proud with the kids that I work with.”
Joining Roberson and Crews at state are seniors Tyler Jackson and Haley Roberson, junior Julia Gordy, sophomores Brayden Deboer and Ian Perez and freshman Mackenzie Oligschlaeger.
