At the district competition on Jan. 25 and 26, nine members of the Aqua Tribe swam their way to regionals today and tomorrow in Andrews.
“The results [from district] will motivate us to do even better and work harder,” junior Judy Thiessen said. “We have been doing 25 sprints and 50 sprints and wearing a lot of drag to build our endurance.”
Thiessen will swim on both the 200-yard medley relay with freshman Sunny Woodward, sophomore Tori Phillips and junior Kourtney Kildow; and on the 200-yard freestyle relay with sophomore Arin Hindman, Kildow and Woodward at regionals.
District became more difficult after Lubbock High and Lubbock Monterey moved from 5A into 4A since all levels below 5A compete in the 4A division. Lubbock High’s men and women both placed second at regionals last year. The Westerner’s women’s team includes senior Madisyn Cox, who competed in the Olympic trials and recently signed with the University of Texas.
“It was hard [competing against Cox] because I don’t handle losing well,” Thiessen said. “District was much more difficult than years past because they put us in a district with larger schools.”
According to Coach Tim Sage, the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay just needs to take off .8 seconds to break the school record.
“Beating the record motivates me,” Thiessen said. “I think we are going to do really well [at regionals] because we have been practicing intensely.”
The 400-yard freestyle relay of Hindman, junior Nancy Bergen, freshman Madi Werner and sophomore Sierra Talamantes took sixth at district to qualify.
“My motivation is Paco [sophomore Carlo Franco],” Talamantes said. “He makes me want to do better or improve. If you don’t try, you are never going to get better.”
Franco qualified individually for regionals in the 100-yard freestyle, placing sixth at district. Franco said he will do well at regionals because he is putting in hard work at practice.
“I would like more flexibility,” Franco said. “I’m trying to stretch my ankles. It creates movement more like a fin. The more flexible your ankles, the better your kick.”
Five of the nine Aqua Tribe members who qualified for regionals were there last year when Indians placed 12th and the Maidens placed 11th. Thiessen was one of them.
“I just try to believe in myself to overcome the pressure,” Thiessen said. “I tell myself I can do anything if I try.”
Bergen, who qualified as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay, likes the feeling of accomplishment.
“The results from district show we will do much better at regionals because we cut off time from before,” Bergen said. “We will do great because we are all working really hard, and we are pushing ourselves over the limit.”
Werner, who is also part of the 400-yard freestyle relay, said she expects her relay to beat its time from the previous meet and do really well at regionals if the members make some improvements.
“We probably all need to improve on dive ins and flip turns,” Werner said. “The faster you get into the water and the faster you are at your flip turns, the faster you are to beat everyone else.”
Hindman, who qualified in both freestyle relays, said the relays probably wouldn’t make it to state, but they would still compete well.
“We are hard workers…,” Hindman said. “Even if we try and fail, we still know we did the best we could.”
Werner said the season has inspired her and her teammates.
“The season has been pretty good, we all improved a lot,” Werner said. “I know a lot of us didn’t make it to regionals, but I am really proud of my team. Swimming is my favorite sport, and watching Michael Phelps and people like that… I just want to be there one day.”
District 4-4A Swim Meet Results
Maidens–fifth-
28 points (tie with Pecos)
200-yard medley relay (Tori Phillips, Judy Thiessen, Kourtney Kildow and Sunny Woodward)–fifth (2:16.34)
200-yard individual medley– Sunny Woodward–eighth(2:49.59)
50-yard freestyle– Judy Thiessen–
seventh (28.12)
100-yard freestyle–JudyThiessen–eighth (1:02.21)
200-yard freestyle relay (Arin Hindman, Kourtney Kildow, Sunny Woodward and Judy Thiessen–fourth (1:58.30)
400-yard freestyle relay (Arin Hindman, Nancy Bergen, Sierra Talamantes and Madi Werner)–sixth (4:37.84)
Indians–seventh-
17 points
200-yard individual medley relay (Jean Teichroeb, Luke Hicks, Gabriel Madrid and Carlo Franco)–seventh (2:04.15)
50-yard freestyle–Carlo Franco–seventh (24.49)
100-yard freestyle–Carlo Franco–sixth (55.79)
200-yard freestyle relay (Carlo Franco, Luke Hicks, Gabriel Madrid and Robert Gonzales)–seventh (1:47.63)
400-yard freestyle relay (Jean Teichroeb, Joseph Teichroeb, Samuel Letkeman and Robert Gonzales)–seventh (4:22.17)