Life in the Fast Lane: HP Swim/Dive has strong swims against Jesuit and Ursuline, but end the evening with losses

As HP has moved into 6A, the swim/dive team chose “Life in the Fast Lane” as an apropos motto for the season. The Scots lost to Jesuit 84-99, and Lady Scots lost to Ursuline 80-90 in their second home meet of the season. Jesuit’s three divers sealed the victory for their team. If anyone is interested in diving for HP, please contact Coach Pullano!

The HP swimmers started strong, with the women’s team of Angelina Huang, Max McAllister, Lydia Westcott, and Bella Dewhirst winning the 200 Medley Relay. The Scots had an outstanding evening, with standout swimmers including:

· Max McAllister: 1st in 200 IM and 100 Breast
· Lydia Westcott: 1st in 200 Free (best time); 2nd 100 Fly (best time)
· Angelina Huang: 1st 100 Back
· Kylie Williams: 2nd 100 Free

In the 500 Free, Maddy Persefield broke the 6-minute mark in her first attempt at this event. Way to step up, Maddy! Her efforts earned her third place, the best showing for HP girls in this event. In the 100 Breast, Max McCallister out-touched her Ursuline opponent by 0.10 of a second, earning the victory.

Numerous best times were swum by Campbell Schultz, Georgia Lokey, Olivia McAllister, Augusta McKenzie, Ava Ramo, and Caroline Karpenko. Way to go ladies!

The men also started out by out-touching the Jesuit team and winning the 200 Medley Relay with Michael Schultz, Ruihan Zhu, Ivan Zivaljevic, and GB Stalnaker. This was followed by a series of best times and wins by the following swimmers:

· Michael Schultz: 1st 50 Free and 100 Back (best time)
· Ruihan Zhu: 1st 200 IM, 2nd 100 Breast (best time)
· GB Stalnaker: 1st 500 Free, 2nd 200 Free
· Jake Melley: 1st 100 Free
· Jacob Duong: 2nd 100 Fly (best time), 2nd 200 Back (best time)

The 200 Free Relay of Jake Melley, Jacob Duong, Michael Schultz, and Ivan Zivaljevik also won their race by 0.23 seconds. One of the more exciting wins of the evening was a neck-and-neck battle in the 500 Free, with GB Stalnaker winning the race. The 1-2 finish in the 100 Back was spectacular at Jacob Duong out-touched the Jesuit swimmer to take 2nd place. Jake Melley, Max Nguyen, Jonathan Nguyen, and Andrew Li also had outstanding swims with best times.

Swimmers of the meet were Michael Schultz and Jacob Duong on the boys side; Georgia Lokey and Ava Ramo on the girls side.
*Michael Schultz - Schultz, a senior, broke out in a big way and provided the backstroke relief that the Scots needed! His medley relay leg helped the Scots win the event while also contributing to the winning 200 FR relay and winning the 50 FR and 100 BK events individually
*Jacob Duong - Duong, a freshman, was turning heads all over the pool! His 100 FL swim dropped 5 seconds from his previous best and secured valuable points for the Scots. But no moment was bigger than his 1-2 finish with Schultz in the 100 BK where Duong came from behind to take the slot from the Jesuit backstroker. Duong also contributed to the winning Scots 200 FR Relay
*Ava Ramo - Ramo, a sophomore, found her nice this swim meet! She put together a couple of fantastic races and finding her specialty as a breaststroker! Ava was also critical in contributing to the Lady Scotts 200 FR C relay.
*Georgia Lokey - Lokey, a junior, had the meet of her life on Tuesday evening! She swam her first 50 FL leg on the Lady Scotts C 200 Medley Relay and then achieved a lifetime best 50 FR while winning the consolation heet of the 50 FR! She also posted an inseason best time in the 100 FR

In terms of lifetime and inseason bests, the Scots earned

Number of New Lifetime Best Swims: 51! (Total of 151 on year)
Duong, Jacob [4]; McAllister, Olivia [3]; Nguyen, Jonathan [3]; Nguyen, Max [3]; San, Janberk [3]; Walker, Mstisl [3]; Wilmot, Richard [3]; Arnold, Isabel [2]; Li, Andrew [2]; McKenzie, Augusta [2]; McKenzie, Winston [2]; Persefield, Madeleine [2]; Ramo, Ava [2]; Schultz, Michael [2]; Westcott, Lydia [2]; Yang, Wenchen [2]; Annett, Caroline [1]; Hickey, Knox [1]; Ho, Katherine [1]; Karpenko, Caroline [1]; Lokey, Georgia [1]; Madden, Ella [1]; Melley, Jake [1]; Patel, Sofia [1]; Schultz, Campbell [1]; Walker, Savva [1]; Zhu, Ruihan [1]

Number of New Inseason Best Swims: 72! (Total of 226 on year)
Duong, Jacob [4]; Nguyen, Max [4]; Madden, Ella [3]; McAllister, Olivia [3]; Nguyen, Jonathan [3]; Patel, Sofia [3]; San, Janberk [3]; Walker, Savva [3]; Wilmot, Richard [3]; Arnold, Isabel [2]; Hickey, Knox [2]; Ho, Katherine [2]; Li, Andrew [2]; Lokey, Georgia [2]; McKenzie, Augusta [2]; McKenzie, Winston [2]; Persefield, Madeleine [2]; Peters, Meg [2]; Ramo, Ava [2]; Schultz, Michael [2]; Stalnaker, GB [2]; Tsai, Noemi [2]; Westcott, Lydia [2]; Williams, Kylie [2]; Yang, Wenchen [2]; Zelley, Charlotte [2]; Zhu, Ruihan [2]; Annett, Caroline [1]; Huang, Angelina [1]; Karpenko, Caroline [1]

In terms of qualification for invitationals, the Scots saw new qualifying swims for TISCA and Debbie weems from the following swimmers

Number of New Debbie Weems Qualifying Swims: 5! (Total of 69 on year)
Lydia Wescott (100 FL), Madeleine Persefield (500 FR), Jonathan Nguyen (200 IM), Max Nguyen (100 FL), Wenchen Yang (50 FR)

Number of New TISCA Qualifying Swims: 6! (Total of 34 on the year)
Lydia Westcott (50 FR & 100 FL), Jake Melley (200 FR), Jacob Duong (100 FL), Isabella Dewhirst (50 FR), Max Nguyen (100 FL)

The swim team heads to the Cougar Classic and TISCA Invitationals over the next two weekends. The next home meet of the season will be on November 29th at 5:30 PM at the Loch (HP Natatorium) vs. Plano East.