MANSFIELD, Texas – Thursday night, the Mansfield ISD Natatorium pool was owned by San Antonio Christian High School.
Lions swimmers rolled past their competition in the TAPPS Division II swimming championships, winning nine of the 24 total events en route to claiming both the boys and girls overall team titles.
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The boys set the tone, earning San Antonio Christian's first event win in the 200-yard medley relay. After a blistering butterfly leg (20.96) from Fort Bend's Grant Klatt gave the Eagles the lead, senior Ellis Nelson anchored his Lions relay teammates (Michael O'Brien, Bryce Nichols, Christian Larsen) to victory, splitting a 22.01 on his final 50 to win in 1:45.77. Nelson then dominated the very next event, winning the 200-yard freestyle title by almost 10 seconds in 1:44.74. He followed that performance with another impressive victory in the 500-yard freestyle, crushing the rest of the field with a time of 4:44.44 -- that's nearly 48 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Fellow senior Christian Larsen stepped up in his individual events as well, earning critical points with a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (23.61) and a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (51.77). Larsen, Nichols, O'Brien and Nelson once again teamed up to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:27.89, adding a proper exclamation point and securing the boys team title with 292 total points.
On the girls side, junior Megan Troyer earned the team's first event victory in the 200-yard freestyle, pulling away from the field in the second half to win in 2:01.78. Troyer also finished third in the 500-yard freestyle, one of three Lions to finish in the top seven. Sophomore Morgan Schield followed suit, winning both of her individual events. In the 100-yard butterfly, Schield dominated with a time of 59.52 seconds, four seconds ahead of second place. In the 100-yard backstroke, she jumped out to an early lead and hung on to win in 1:00.25. Troyer and Schield teamed up to win a pair of relays, as well -- swimming alongside freshman Abigail Leal and junior Aubrie Hutson, San Antonio Christian won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:44.73. The two then wrapped up the meet with one final dominant performance, teaming up with freshmen Grace Malin and Kylie Donofrio to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:50.65. The Lions claimed the girls team title with 331 total points, winning by a margin of 110 points.
For full team standings, click here.
For full individual results, click here.