Courtesy David Hill
Carroll’s boys and girls swim and dive teams turned in standout performances at the Region 1-6A Championships last weekend in Midland, qualifying a large group for the UIL 6A State Championships later this month in Austin.
The Dragon boys captured the overall regional team title with 447 points, finishing well ahead of Keller and Midland Legacy in a 21-team field. The Dragons swept all three relay events to anchor the title run. William Zhang, Pierce Chapman, Finn McAteer and Colin Heintz won the 200-medley relay, while Dylan Heldenbrand, Colin Heintz, Ethan Jetty and Kobe Dickheiser took first in the 200-freestyle relay. Heldenbrand, Zhang, Jetty and Dickheiser followed with a victory in the 400-freestyle relay. All three relays qualified for state.
Individually, Dickheiser earned state berths with runner-up finishes in the 200-freestyle and 500-freestyle. Zhang qualified by placing third in the 200-freestyle and winning the 100-butterfly. Heldenbrand advanced with second-place finishes in the 50-freestyle and 100-freestyle. Jack Ma added another regional title by winning diving to secure a state spot.
The Carroll girls finished second overall with 431 points, just two points behind Keller. The Lady Dragons still sent a deep group of qualifiers to state across swimming and diving events.
State qualifiers on the girls side include Alessia Palmisani, Sayesha Mahat, Taryn Plows, Sydney Klopfenstein, Jenna Khalaf, Bella Sanouvong, Reese Calvin, Charlie Rockfellow, Emma Bibza and Olivia Colombo. Plows, Bibza and Colombo qualified in multiple individual and relay events, while Sanouvong and Calvin advanced in diving.
Additional scoring contributions came from Kay DeYoung, Sophi Borowski, Lucy Reynolds, Katelyn Burke and Emma Nguyen.
The UIL 6A State Championships are scheduled for Feb. 20–21 at the University of Texas.