Swim celebrates success at state competition

Violet Tsai

Practicing 11 times a week, junior Rachel Easton was part of the girls’ 200 yd freestyle relay that advanced to the state meet last year. This year, Easton and her teammates ended up taking 16th in the 200m medley relay, and 14th in the 200m free relay.

Catie Reeves, Sports Editor

Four swimmers made a mark at the UIL State Meet on Friday and Saturday as they raced to earn a medal alongside some of the best athletes in Texas at the University of Texas Aquatic Center in Austin.

Placing individually from the team, freshman Maria Oushalkas took 13th in the 200m freestyle and 11th in the 100m fly while junior Mallory Showalter placed 7th in 100m black and 9th in the 50m freestyle.

“I am so happy that I placed in the top ten in the state,” Showalter said. “It made all my hard work pay off and it felt really great to accomplish that. Making it back to finals at State is a huge accomplishment, so I was really excited when I made it back in all four of my events.”

Also placing, the girls’ 200m medley relay finished in 16th, and the girls’ 200m free relay placed 14th (Mallory Showalter, Maria Oushalkas, Rachel Easton and Hannah Nguyen

“I am so proud of all the girls on our relay, they swam amazing,” Showalter said. “We made it back to finals in both of the relays so that was exciting.”