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Lake Jackson swimmers off to Games of Texas
Published July 23, 2009
LAKE JACKSON — It’s another hot summer in Texas, and members of the Lake Jackson Swim Team have been beating the heat and opponents in the pool.
The group of young swimmers wrapped up its season in the Coastal Cities Aquatic Association with a first-place finish and are taking a record number of athletes this week to San Antonio for the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation Games of Texas.
“The team grew by leaps and bounds,” swim team president Chris Seymour said. “We had a total of 173 swimmers from ages 5 to adults and our local swim team was the CCAA season champs for 2009. At our city championship, our team captured the second-place trophy.”
The Lake Jackson Swim Team finished second at the CCAA Championship Meet on July 3 at the Lamar Consolidated Natatorium in Rosenberg. In 118 events in various boys and girls age groups, Lake Jackson won 24 gold medals, 32 silver and 19 bronze. The team finished with 927.5 points, just shy of Richmond and Rosenberg Aquatics’ winning score of 965.
Swimmers competed in the TAAF Region I meet July 11 at Conroe ISD Natatorium in The Woodlands with berths to the Games of Texas on the line. With more than 1,500 competitors in the pool, the top four finishers in each event received a trip to San Antonio.
The Lake Jackson team’s success in the pool has vastly improved in just a few seasons. In 2006, the group sent 15 swimmers to the Games of Texas. The next year 25 made the trip. Last season a record 38 participated for a state title, and 44 are heading to the Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio to swim for gold Friday through Sunday.
Lake Jackson swam to 16 wins at the regional meet. The group had 10 second-place finishes, 12 third-place and six fourth-place en route to a fourth-place team finish. Sixteen of the sqaud’s 17 relay teams earned a trip to the TAAF state meet.
Nicole Nguyen broke the regional record in the 9- and 10-year-old girls 25-yard backstroke with a time of 16.73 seconds. She trimmed one-hundredth of a second off the pervious record of 16.74 set in 1999.
Cody Armstrong earned four golds in the boys 15- to 17-year-old division by winning the 100 and 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 100 individual medley.
Lake Jackson is coached by Ethan Vesling, Linda Paul and Lisa Paul, who all also swim in races. Vesling took home four medals from the regional meet, winning gold in the 50 backstroke, silver in the 100 freestyle and bronze in the 50 backstroke and 100 individual medley.
Swimmers qualifying for the State Games are Alyssa Sterling, Vivie Tran, Riya Chakraborty, Rachel Gambrel, Madison Snell, Joe Turk, Collin Fuchs, Benjamin Laurel, Matthew McKinney, Bradley Hight, Jack Kuettel, Alex Seymour, Dalton Miller, Hayden Fuchs, Taylor Friedrichs, Katie Turk, Melanie Housenga, Taylor Neely, Molly Kuettel, Cassidy Vavra, Savannah Grey, Catalina Perez, Carrie Bai, Annie Robbins, Austin Strobel, Kaitlyn Housenga, Sidney Vavra, Haley Goff, Lauren Lander, Nijia Zhou, Madeline Doughty, Ava Vesling, David Hamper, Andy Seymour, Andrew Robbins, Wyatt Sterling, Logan Sheffield, Amanda Ellis, Caroline Heins, Lisa Paul, Linda Paul, Ethan Vesling, Nguyen and Armstrong.
The State Games’ swimming competition begins at 9:15 a.m. Friday with sessions starting at 8 a.m. Saturday and at 9:15 a.m. Sunday.
Jim Levesque is a sports writer for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0161.
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