Girls swim team wins district championship, boys place fourth

Katie McClellan photo

Tailyn Schaufelberger (left), Julianna Birlin (middle) and Julia Roberto (right) all placed in the top three in the Grils 200 Individual Medley at the district meet on Saturday.

Megan Messer, Opinions Editor
January 29, 2019

Viper swim team snagged their first 6A championship at the District 11 meet held at University of Texas on Saturday. The girls team finished in first place and boys placed fourth overall. Swim coach Genevieve Walsh was also named Girls Coach of the Meet.

“I was thrilled to see so many people on the team drop time in their events and place higher than they were seeded,” Walsh said. “There were tons of exciting races where people exceeded their expectations. I know they have been working hard all year and it was great to see their hard work pay off!”

The team overall placed first in eight out of 24 events, and 21 swimmers qualified for regionals on Feb. 1 in Mansfield.

“It was incredible to watch the girls team win a championship meet for the first time in 6A,” senior captain Julianna Birlin said. “Everyone had an important role in the team’s success and I am beyond proud of how we are able to have fast swims and surprise ourselves.”

Walsh said moving up to 6A this year has brought tough competition, but as first-time winners in 6A the team was overall thrilled. Swimmers who qualified said they are excited to be going to regionals and have goals to final, place and make it to state.

“I’m so happy that we have many of our swimmers moving on to regionals and that we all cheered each other on throughout the meet,” senior captain Mason Wong said. “I can’t wait to see how far our team can go this season and I’m so excited for region.”

This week the team is recovering from the weekend while preparing to race again on Friday. As a team they will continue to perfect stroke techniques in order to better their skills for this weekend.

“Championship season is my favorite part of the swim season,” Walsh said. “We are taking a strong team this year. I can’t wait to see what they accomplish in Mansfield.”

List of Results:

Girls 200 Free
1st Addie Orris
4th Cammi Schaufelberger
5th Kayla McAfee

Boys 200 Free
4th Jared McArthur
5th Mason Wong
7th Andrew Osorio

Girls 200 Individual Medley
1st Julianna Birlin
2nd Julia Roberto
3rd Tailyn Schaufelberger
4th Julia York