Sports
BHS swimmers gearing up for District championship
Thursday, 31 January 2013 by Tony Adams
Belton’s Tony Velasquez cuts through the water during the Belton New Year Invitational Meet on Saturday at the Roy and Jean Potts Swim Center on Saturday. The BHS boys team finished first, while the BHS girls team finished third at the meet.It seems that every time the Belton High School Swimming Teams touch the water, records are broken and momentum increases towards the District 8-5A District Championship meet.
Saturday was no exception as the Tiger Swimmers hosted the Belton New Year Invitational Meet at the Roy and Jean Potts Swim Center on the campus of Belton High School. Eight schools from around Central Texas competed in the meet.
The Belton boys had another impressive showing, scoring a boys division team-high 417 points and took home first place honors for the meet. Round Rock finished in second place with 395 points and Cedar Park finished in third with 390.50.
One of the most hotly contested and very entertaining individual heats of the meet was the third heat of the Boys 100-yard butterfly. Four of Belton's dynamic swimmers, Joey Martin, Austin Couillard, Mitch Anderson and Evan Nitcher, squared off. As you may have guessed, a record was set. Martin set the new mark with a time of 54.92. Couillard finished second with a time a 55.20, Anderson finished third with a time of 56:00 and Nitcher finished sixth with a time of 59.06.
Belton A relay, comprised of Martin, Couillard, Anderson and Benjamin York, also set a Boys 200-yard relay record with a time of 1:30:85. Belton A and Belton B relay teams finished first and third respectively in the Boys 400-yard freestyle relay times of 3:22:13 and 3:35.16.
Participants for the boys team in the tournament were Martin, Couillard, Anderson, Nitcher, Tristan Boss, Troy Morrow, Brandon Smith, Zachary Rose, Casey Starnes, Martin Fluitt, Matthew Phillips, Tony Velasquez, Jake Fitzwater, Aaron Kuehn, Kennedy Lim, Andrew Alas and Ben York
The Belton girls were equally as impressive, as the Lady Tigers took third place for the meet with 401 points. They finished just one point behind second-place finisher Cedar Park. Round Rock scored a meet high 565 points.
Highlights of the individual side include the Girls 100-yard butterfly first heat, where Emily Soliz, Margueret Betbeze and Haley Taylor finished 1-2-3 respectively, with times of 1:15:85, 1:17:67 and 1:17:81. Milan Garza finished first in her heat in the Girls 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:13:60. Carissa Basaldua finished second in her 100-yard backstroke heat with a time of 1:07:04.
The Belton Girls team highlights were strong finishes by Belton A and Belton B relay teams in Girls 200-yard freestyle relay. Belton A finished second with a time of 1:48:79 and Belton B finished fourth with a time of 1:51:00.
Meet participants for the girls team were Soliz, Betbeze, Taylor, Garza, Basaldua, Jena Gallegos, Emily Starr, Cara Cox, Valencia Ramirez, Mara Urbanczyk, Dezzarae Luera, Mercedes Marcus, Samantha Pentico, Jessica Bonner, Megan Nitcher, Margaret Montgomery, Mary Clark and Katie Hennessee.
The District 8-5A Championship meet will be in Killeen on Jan. 25-26.
