Stewart Johnson
Southlake Carroll went home with several medals and a state championship trophy from the UIL Class 6A state swimming and diving championships this past weekend. According to head coach Kevin Murphy, the Dragons started by sweeping first place at the girls 200 medley relay, which swimmers Hailey Heldenbrand, Corbyn Cormack, Kit Kat Zenick and Madelyn Clem finished in 1:43.61. Riley Francis followed up with a second-place finish in the 200 free with 1:47.72. Corbyn Cormack, meanwhile, won the girls' first individual first-place finish in the 200-yard medley with 2:02.19. Kit Kat Zenick followed up with a first place finish in the 50 yard free with 22.30, which coach Murphy says makes her the fastest high school girl swimmer in the history of Texas 50 yard swimming.
On the boys' side, Ryan Perham won a bronze medal for finishing 20.43 in the 50 yard free. He later picked up the silver medal for finishing second in the 100 yard fly with a 48.79 finish. Jackson Miller also picked up silver medal for the 1-meter diving competition.
The Lady Dragons finished first in the meet with a combined 284 points from all of their matches, effectively winning the state championship. The boys, meanwhile, finished fourth in team standings after they took the bronze medal in the 400-yard relay.
On the diving side, Hailey Hernandez won gold for the third time in a row, while Bridget O'Neil took silver. Bridget O'Neil and Phillip Kleiman are also the first Dragons to go to state for diving for all four years.
“The girls knew that if they took care of their business and we had a decent meet, then they would win the meet," coach Murphy expresses. "On the boys' side, we were probably the sixth, seventh, eighth-best team going into the meet. They actually improved significantly to go from sixth, seventh or eighth up to fourth place.”
Coach Murphy says he was proud of his team and the strong efforts they showed at the state meet.
“It was an excellent meet for both of our boys and girls," he expresses. "We’re already putting pencil to paper making our plans for next year.”