Carroll, Grapevine sweep regional swim-dive meets

It was a strong meet for the Carroll and Grapevine swim teams as both programs swept their respective regional meets.

Carroll coach Kevin Murphy said nearly every member of the Dragons squad finished in the top eight at the meet in most events, and the program moved several athletes on to the state meet.

“For region, it’s not so much you sweep in your region, it’s how many kids advance to state,” Murphy said. “You have to win, or have one of the fastest eight other times from all the regions. I think the boys, we advanced 16 individual slots. Usually, around 10 slots is enough to win the meet.

“We set two school record in the 200 and 400 free relay. On the girls side, I know we’ll advance two divers, maybe three individual swims, and if we’re fortunate, all three relays. Our girls team is a third to sixth level team.”

The Dragons had 17 swimmers finish in the top eight on the girls side and 28 boys finished in the top eight at the regional meet. The UIL will finalize the members at the state meet on Wednesday.

The boys team won the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and finished second in the medley relay, and the girls won the medley relay.

Natalie Whalen won the 100 fly and 500 free and on the boys side, Alex Settle won the 200 free, Jack LeVant won a regional championship in the 50 free and 100 fly, Austin Whalen won the 100 free, Colter Carman won the 500 free, and Evan Kolde won the 100 breaststroke.

Over at Grapevine, the Mustangs made it a clean sweep as well.

“The girls won region for the first time in school history, and the boys won region for the first time since 1998,” coach Daniel Jau said. “It’s very exciting.”

Jau was Regional Coach of the Year, Grapevine and Colleyville diving coach Stacy Marincasiu was selected as the Girls Diving Coach of the year, and Katie Gary was named Girls Diver of the Year.

The Mustangs won the boys 200 Medley relay, girls 200 IM, boys 200 IM, boys 100 fly (Parker Shultz), boys 200 free relay, girls 100 back (Madison Chao), boys 100 back (David Hallaron) and the girls diving event.

Colleyville Heritage’s Clare Cushing was also in the hunt for a call-up in the 200 free.

“The Grapevine girls were underdogs, and they swam out of their minds,” Jau said. “They really exceeded expectations. We have a very young girls team, so I was impressed with how they competed. I knew that our boys relays were pretty strong.”

Jau said the goals for state is to be in the top five on the boys side and top eight on the girls side.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Carroll, Grapevine sweep regional swim-dive meets."