Friendswood girls swimming team make it eight in a row

February 15, 2010

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Friendswood head coach John Little was all smiles at the state meet last year and will return his teams once again to the state swim meet on February 26-27. The Lady Mustangs won their eighth straight Region 6-4A championship while the boys finished in second place. (Photo by Dr. David Davis)

FRIENDSWOOD — For the eighth straight year - the Friendswood Lady Mustangs captured the Region 6-4A swim championship and will send several swimmers to the state swim meet to be held in Austin at the Lee and Joe Jamail Swim Center at the University of Texas.

While the girls did the expected, the Friendswood boys surprised head coach John Little with their second place finish.

“The girls, I expected, and I’m proud of that,” Little said. “But the boys really impressed me. They did better than I thought coming in.”

The girls dominated with 518 points, almost 200 ahead of second place Lamar Consolidated.

Here is how the girls teams finished which included: 1. Friendswood High School 518,  2. Lamar Consolidated High School 332, 3. Richmond Foster High School 214, 4. Angleton High School 202, 5. Manvel High School 163, 6. Bay City High School 128, 7. Rosenberg Terry High School 111, 8. El Campo High School 110, 9. Waltrip High School 105, 10. Glenda Dawson High School 68, 11. Brazosport High School 65, 12. Wharton High School 54, 13. Reagan High School 20, 14. Texas City High School 12, and 15. Scarborough High School 2.

The Friendswood boys barely finished behind Lamar Consolidated.

Here is how the boys finished: 1. Lamar Consolidated High School 367 2. Friendswood High School 334, 3. Richmond Foster High School 277.5, 4. Glenda Dawson High School 229, 5. Manvel High School 188, 6. Angleton High School 160, 7. Waltrip High School 141.5, 8. Texas City High School 108, 9. Wharton High School 83, 10. Rosenberg Terry High School 58, 11. El Campo High School 54, 12. Brazosport High School 28, 13. Houston Austin High School 26, 14. Bay City High School 21, 15. Houston Davis High School 3, 16. Scarborough High School 1.

Only those who captured gold medals have secured their place at the state meet. The remaining spots are determined by the best times across the state in all the regions. Since weather canceled the meet in North Texas, Friendswood does not know who else might have qualified.

Senior Melissa Watson paced the Lady Mustangs as she won region titles in both the 100 breast stroke and the 200 freestyle. She also was part of the 200 medley team that captured first place. Kelsey Castro, Rachel Cragin and Lauren Lundquist round out the relay squad.

Alexandria Taylor was the other Lady Mustang to capture a region title. She won the 500 freestyle.

Still, many have a chance to qualify for the girls, depending on the outcome of the North Texas region. Cragin finished second in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. Meagan Westhoven also placed second in the 200 medley. The Lady Mustangs’ two other relay teams (200 free and 400 free) took silver.

“We have a lot more people that could qualify on Monday,” Little said. “I’m pretty excited.”

Philip Stevens paced the boys and won the team’s sole gold medal in the 100-yard backstroke. But a handful of third-place finishes — Michael Tomerlin in the backstroke and the 200 medley, as well as the 400 relay will be waiting to find out their fate for the state meet.

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