The Carroll Dragon boys' swimming and diving team finished No. 1 in the public school national rankings by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association for the 2014-2015 school year. This information comes courtesy of the district's nightly eBlast newsletter.
The Dragons have won five consecutive state championships. The Lady Dragons finished third in the public school rankings. The Carroll program (boys and girls) finished sixth in the nation.
According to head coach Kevin Murphy, the NISCA Power-Point National Rankings are based primarily on depth.
"High quality is important, but more important is whether the team has pretty high quality throughout their line-up," he said.
Each team compiles its best dual meet lineup of three swimmers in each of eight individual events, three divers in 1-meter diving, and two relay entries in each of three relay events. Each swimmer or relay has a best time for the season, and each best time has a specific point value on a set scale. Each diver is entered in his or her best dive point total for the season, which also has a set power-point value. The points are totaled for the team's final point total.
Murphy reported the Dragon boys rank third in the nation amongst these rankings for both public and private schools. Of the public schools with 1,900 or more students, the Southlake Carroll girls were third in the Nation. Amongst all public and private schools, the girls ranked around 20th in the country.
In 2012, the Dragon girls were No. 1 in the entire United States, public and private schools, in the NISCA Power-Point competition.
The combined team is the sixth best in the nation amongst all public and private schools in the NISCA Power-Point competition, making the Dragons the overall sixth best team in the country.
"We believe our Dragon boys are the favorites to win a sixth consecutive 6A State Swim/Dive Championship and we are hopeful that our Dragon girls team can move from sixth in Texas in 2015, back into the top 3 at state in class 6A this season," Murphy said.
The Dragons open their competition season at the Jesuit Ranger Relays on Oct. 3 at The Colony Natatorium.
"Lots of work yet to do and some good fortune to go with it," Murphy said.