AUSTIN – The state’s best swimmers and divers competed at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin for the UIL Class 5A Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday evening, and the greater San Antonio area was well-represented throughout the meet.
The Boerne Champion boys posted the program’s best finish at the state meet by taking 5th overall with 137.5 points. Senior Griff Orloff headlined their effort with a memorable race in the 100 yard Breaststroke. Squaring off against top-seeded Frisco Wakeland sophomore Jackson Armour — who entered the meet with a best time of 55.16 that was nearly two seconds faster than the rest of the field — it was Orloff who led at the halfway-mark with a 26.10 split and hung on late to tie with Armour for first overall in 56.37. The two shared gold medals on the podium.
Orloff also contributed to every one of the Boerne Champion boys’ relays, and he led off the team’s best effort in the 200 yard Freestyle Relay with a flat-start 21.33 split. Freshman Will Harrison (21.69) and senior Matthew Jeffery (21.66) kept the Chargers in the race and sophomore Bexon Harrison anchored with a staggering 20.28 — the fastest split in the field — to post a school-record time of 1:24.96, good enough to secure a silver medal. The same group also posted a fourth-place finish in the 200 yard Medley Relay.
Bexon found plenty of success individually, finishing sixth overall in the 50 yard Freestyle with a time of 20.94, marking his first sub-21 swim. After the diving break, he returned to the water and finished fifth in the 100 yard Butterfly in 50.82.
Smithson Valley senior Colin Doyle battled his way to the podium in that same event, dropping nearly a second off of his prelims swim to touch third overall in 50.25. He later anchored the Rangers’ 400-yard Freestyle Relay to a sixth place finish alongside junior Aidan Fox, senior Parker Maroney and senior Maddox Green. Fox posted an eighth place finish in the 100 yard Breaststroke with a time of 59.43.
On the girls side, Smithson Valley senior Vanessa Weatherford secured two top-five finishes in the 100 yard Freestyle (4th, 52.19) and the 50-yard Freestyle (5th, 23.71). She also anchored the Smithson Valley girls’ 400 yard Freestyle relay to a silver medal with an impressive 50.95 split. Junior Kelechi Nwaeze, senior Catherine Frankson and senior Abigail Miller combined with Weatherford to finish in 3:33.71.
Smithson Valley’s 400 yard Freestyle relay team of Kelechi Nwaeze, Catherine Frankson, Abigail Miller and Vanessa Weatherford pose with their silver medals at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin on Saturday, February 18, 2023. (KSAT)
The Boerne Champion girls just missed the podium in the same race, as sophomore Kate Deykin, sophomore Cameron Kellogg, senior Regan Garcia and freshman Cora Skoog finished fourth overall in 3:34.61. Skoog also helped anchor the same group to a fifth-place finish in the 200 yard Freestyle Relay. In her first appearance at State, Skoog performed well in both of her individual events, finishing sixth in the 100 yard Freestyle with a time of 52.60 and seventh in the 50 with a 24.30.
MacArthur freshman Olivia Gonzalez took eighth in the 100 yard Backstroke in 59.23.
Alamo Heights senior Chase Marafioto brought home a silver medal in the boys one-meter Diving competition by scoring 534.40 points. His sophomore teammate James Holloway was fifth with 392.60 points. Boerne Champion junior Colin Breuer took fourth with 424.75 points.
For full results from the UIL Class 5A State meet, click here!
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