Swimmers complete regular season; ready for champs meet

[KFDM COOP]

Swimmers complete regular season; ready for champs meet

Tommy Mann, Jr. The Orange Leader

SOUR LAKE, Texas — Area swimmers are positioning themselves to make a medal run at the championship meet at the end of July, and that included this past Saturday’s contest at Pinewood Country Club.

In the Individual Medley (IM) races, in which each swimmer is required to perform the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke, several swimmers from the City of Orange Swim Team and Vidor Area Swim Team met with success, but only two won their respective races.

Zoe Bahl of VAST won the Girls 9-10 100 Meter IM in 1:44.97, while teammate Eddie Dyess won the Boys 11-12 100 Meter IM in 1:37.01.

COST swimmers found better success in the freestyle portion of the swim meet. Presley Alexander won the Girls 6 and Under 25 Meter Freestyle in 23.76, demolishing the competition. Teammate Nicholas Anthony won the Boys 9-10 25 Meter event in 18.22 seconds, while COST’s Jordan Alexander claimed first place in the Boys 7-8 50 Meter Freestyle event with a time of 47.18 seconds.

Zoe Bahl of VAST, who won a total of four events on Saturday, earned her second victory of the day in the Girls 9-10 50 Meter race in 40.72 seconds.

Paige Perales of COST won the Girls 13-14 50 Meter Freestyle race in 31.42 seconds, and Coby Roddy, also of COST, won the Boys division in 32.57 seconds.

COST’s Will Cowart won the Boys 17-19 50 Meter Freestyle in 28.52 seconds, while teammate Savannah Sheppard won the Girls 13-14 100 Meter Freestyle in 1:34.06.

Zoe Bahl of VAST won the Girls 9-10 25 Meter Butterfly in 21.45 seconds, Abby Gautreaux of COST claimed victory in the Girls 11-12 25 Meter Butterfly in 23.58 seconds. Andrew Hoyland, also of COST, won the boys division in 19.93 seconds.

COST’s Paige Perales won her second of three events on Saturday as she finished in first place in the Girls 13-14 50 Meter Butterfly in 35.32 seconds, while Coby Roddy of COST won the boys division in 38.98 seconds.

In the backstroke competition, Presley Alexander of COST claimed victory in the Girls 6 and Under 25 Meter event with a time of 35.31 seconds, more than 4 seconds ahead of the runner-up, while teammate Kaghan Odom outstretched another competitor to the wall by .08 seconds and won the Boys 7-8 25 Meter Backstroke in 24.79 seconds.

Nicholas Anthony of COST won the Boys 9-10 25 Meter Backstroke in 22.97 seconds. Rylan Odom, also of COST, won the Boys 11-12 50 Meter race in 46.88 seconds, while Paige Perales claimed yet another win in the Girls 13-14 50 Meter Backstroke with a time of 40.65 seconds.

In the final competition of the day, the breaststroke, COST swimmer Presley Alexander won her third event of the day in the Girls 6 and Under 25 Meter race with a time of 40.38 seconds. Jordan Alexander, also of COST, won the Boys 7-8 25 Meter Breaststroke in 29.27 seconds.

Zoe Bahl led a VAST sweep of the Girls 9-10 25 Meter Breaststroke with a winning time of 28.01 seconds, while Eddie Dyess added another win for VAST in the Boys 11-12 50 Meter Breaststroke with a time of 53.44 seconds, nearly 6 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

VAST swimmer Bailey Rogers won the Girls 13-14 100 Meter Breaststroke with a time of 1:46.42, while teammate Lucas Wolfe won the boys division in 1:46.17. Will Cowart of COST won the Boys 17-19 100 Meter Breaststroke this past Saturday with a time of 1:29.53.

COST won several relays at the Pinewood meet too.

Swimmers Kaghan Odom, Whitley Hoyland, Ricki King and Jordan Alexander led COST to victory in the Mixed 8 and Under 100 Meter Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:33.89. Meanwhile, the relay team of Zachary Dischler, Bradley Brezezinski, Madison Driskell and Nicholas Anthony won the Mixed 10 and Under 100 Meter Freestyle for COST in 1:23.67.

COST swimmers Blake LeBlanc, Shelby Perales, Andrew Hoyland and Rylan Odom claimed victory in the Mixed 12 and Under 100 Meter Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:08.60, while the team of Coby Roddy, Michael Dupre, Jordan Alexander and Paige Perales broke the magic 1 minute barrier with a winning time of 59.53 seconds in the Mixed 14 and Under 100 Meter Freestyle Relay for COST.

The Golden Triangle Swim Association’s championship meet will be held on Saturday, July 31, at the City of Orange Natatorium.