District meet showcases EC's water speed
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com
11 Ricebirds, Lady 'Birds advance to regional meet, have good momentum

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley Wave Slammin' Hamman Matthew Hamman and several members of El Campo's swim teams made waves in the district competition. El Campo's achievements include three gold medals and a swimmer-of-the-year award. Here, Hamman swims in the 100-yard freestyle.

Saturday's district swim meet was beneficial to say the least for El Campo. Held at the El Campo Aquatic Center, the Ricebirds and Lady 'Birds had a great outing.

In total, 11 boys and girls advanced to regionals in nine different events.

"I'm very excited and very happy for all my swimmers who placed on to regionals," Coach Richard Nava said. "I hope we continue to do great at regionals in a couple of weeks."

El Campo will compete at Katy Feb. 8-9 for the regional swim meet. Until then, the advancing Ricebirds and Lady 'Birds will be warming up in the pool and preparing to take on higher competition.

Of all El Campo's swimmers, Meredith Bard arguably had the best outing. She broke two personal records, came close to setting meet records and was named Girls 2008 District Swimmer of the Year.

Meredith Bard

"Meredith was outstanding," Nava said. "She actually swam out of her body. She had a great meet and broke all of her individual times. She had a great meet, an amazing meet, her best meet of her life, probably."

Bard took first in the 50- yard freestyle with a 25.79 time and first in the 100- yard freestyle at 56.86. Both times were just outside of the top 50 times in the state for 4- A and exactly what she was aiming for.

Last year, Bard advanced to state in the 500-yard freestyle. Now focused on shorter distances, she agreed - it was her best meet yet.

"It was pretty cool," Bard said. "I was amazed because I didn't really know if I could do it. It didn't feel any different from swimming my other fastest time that I broke.

"It was good, especially (since) I'm known for my distance racing and not really my sprints. Coming out first in two sprint events was pretty cool."

El Campo also took first place in the girls 200-yard freestyle relay. Randi McClure, Hailey O'Briant, Blythe Nava and Bard combined for a 1:47.69 time. The meet record is 1:47.16 set by Angleton in 2004.

Randi McClure

The team has its eyes set on advancing to the state meet in Austin Feb. 23-24. Bard has a shot to advance in all three categories, but said she definitely preferred one.

"I'd rather go to state in the relay because I really, really care about all the girls," Bard said. "We're really good friends and it would just be awesome to go to state with three of your best friends."

McClure, a senior, battled a wrist injury because of how close the team is. She wanted to help her team advance even though she felt pain in every stroke.

"We really have a chance at going to state," McClure said. "I would love to go to state with these three girls because they're my best friends.

"It was amazing. We've never done that before. We're all close and it makes it even better."

El Campo's momentum is rolling as the boys and girls prepare for a competitive regional meet.

"Hopefully, this will carry on the next 10 days and we'll go right into regionals and right into Austin after that," Nava said.

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley Up For Air Kelsey Gangl finishes the first lap in the 100-yard breast stroke.

A few meet records were set Saturday by district schools.

Brazosport's' Forrest Hughes broke the previous boys 50-yard freestyle record of 23.11 that he set in 2007. The record is now at 22.50. Hughes also broke his old 100-yard freestyle record of 51.68 set last year. His new record is 50.53.

Leon Button of Bay City broke the boys 500-yard record. He set the district record last year at 5:29.76. It now stands at 5:29.01.

Bay City broke the girls 400-yard freestyle relay with a 3:56.89 time. The old record was set by Angleton in 2004 at 3:59.84.

The top two teams in the boys 400-yard freestyle relay both beat out Brazosport's record of 3:38.48, set last year.

In the closest race of the meet, Angleton edged Bay City for first place with a 3:38.07 time to the Blackcats' time of 3:38.15.

The following is a list of results from the district meet, listed in the order the events occurred. The top six in each category advanced to regionals.

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley About Face Clark Kyle prepares to make a turn in the 50-yard freestyle.

200-Yard IM Relay

Girls: 3. El Campo (Sarah Rowland, Kelsey Gangl, O'Briant, McClure), 2:21.78

Boys: 5. El Campo (Clark Kyle, Matthew Hamman, Travis Deiss, Colton Cornelius), 2:10.03

200-Yard Freestyle

Girls: 10. Kristi Galow, 2:30.97; 14. Gangl, 2:56.38; Maci Lilie, 3:15.29

Boys: 9. Cornelius, 2:45.84

50-Yard Freestyle

Girls: 1. Bard, 25.79; Nava, 27.48; 8. McClure, 28.40; 13. Rowland, 30.95

Boys: 5. Deiss, 25.94; 8. Hamman, 26.83; 10. Kyle, 28.04

100-Yard Freestyle

Girls: 1. Bard, 56.86; 3. Nava, 1:00.15

Boys: 7. Deiss, 1:02.61; 12. Hamman, 1:04.65; 17. Kyle, 1:11.93

500-Yard Freestyle

Girls: 6. Galow, 6:40.28; 10. Lilie, 8:56.46

200-Yard Free Relay

Girls: 1. El Campo (O'Briant, McClure, Nava, Bard), 1:47.69

Boys: 6. El Campo (Kyle, Cornelius, Hamman, Deiss), 1:51.50

100-Yard Backstroke

Girls: 11. Rowland, 1:27.64

100-Yard Breaststroke

Girls: 8. Gangl, 1:34.76

400-Yard Free Relay

Girls: 2. El Campo (O'Briant, McClure, Nava, Bard), 4:07.19

Team Rankings

Girls: 1. Angleton, 143; 2. Bay City, 100; 3. Wharton, 94; 4. El Campo, 76; 5. Manvel, 37; 6. Brazosport, 35; 7. Stafford, 13; 8. West Columbia, 4

Boys: 1. Angleton, 137; 2. Bay City, 121; 3. Brazosport, 72; 4. Wharton, 64; 5. Manvel, 38; 6. Stafford, 25; 7. El Campo, 21