Stewart Johnson
Injury and illness of key athletes had an impact on Carroll’s swimming and diving success at state last season. Although the boys weren’t expected to defend their 2022 state title, last year’s team looked poised to reach the medal stand in 2023, but unexpectedly dropped to eighth place. The Lady Dragons had a better shot at a golden repeat last year but finished a close second to The Woodlands.
This season, the Carroll girls aim to return to state while the boys set their sights on a top-three finish at the 6A swimming and diving meet on Feb. 23-24 in Austin.
Capturing medals won’t be an easy task. Keller’s boys and girls programs are among the best in the state, with the Keller boys taking the 6A title and the Keller girls finishing sixth in 2023. But Carroll swim coach Kevin Murphy says he expects the two neighboring programs to continue duking it out for supremacy in Austin.
“Keller is the competition, no one else,” says Murphy, referring to the first two postseason swim meets, but noting that The Woodlands is most likely their main non-district competitor for a title at state. “If everybody stays healthy, I think [the Carroll girls] are in the running to win the [state] meet.
“This is the best boys team we've had in a couple of years,” Murphy says. “I wouldn't bet my house on beating [the Keller boys] come the state high school meet, but I think we certainly have a top-three boys team.”
Murphy knows that catchups and outcomes at state are far from etched in stone, but he’s encouraged by improved showings in meets involving the Dragons and Keller, including the TISCA Lonestar Classic in November. Featuring some of the top swimming programs in the state, the Carroll boys finished second to Keller by just 11 points, despite Carroll’s medley relay team suffering a disqualification early in the meet.
“[Keller] beat us by over 100 [at TISCA] last year,” Murphy says.
The second-place finish at TISCA was the only swim meet the Carroll boys didn’t win during their first nine meets this season heading into district. The Carroll girls won TISCA and all nine of their first meets this year.
Carroll will rely heavily on the effort of its boys and girls relay teams to garner points and punch tickets to state. Times recorded within the final month leading up to district showed the Lady Dragons owned the top medley relay performance in the state, as well as the second-best time in the 200 free and 400 free relays. The Carroll boys have a second-best time in the 400 free relay and third-best in the medley and 200 relays. It’s unlikely the boys will catch Keller in any of its relays, but Murphy says finishing second or third in those events at state heightens Carroll’s chances of medaling as a team.
The Dragons hope no sickness or injury plays a part in this year’s potential trip to state. In 2023, one of the top boys swimmers was sick and couldn’t compete at the state meet. Carroll girls diver Natalie Stubb, who finished second at state as a sophomore in 2022, injured her knee and didn’t perform in Austin as a junior last year. But if the Dragons’ top five divers (three girls, two boys) compete and place in the top eight at state, and Carroll’s top four to six boys and top five girls swimmers do the same, Murphy says gold and silver finishes appear very likely.
“We haven't swam out of our minds yet, so we still have something positive to accomplish,” he says. “We try to promise the kids that if you do what we ask you to do, and you stay focused, we will see that you swim fast on the right day.”
As reported on Feb. 15, 2024.