The Warriors competed in the Austin Invite that contained schools from all over central Texas. Westwood’s major competitors were Round Rock, who they beat by a final score of 211-200, and Lake Travis who were behind by 59.

The boys’ medley relay started off with Preston Varozza ‘16 finishing in second place on his length of the relay. Then the next two boys tried to catch up, but couldn’t get their time fast enough. With the race leading to the anchor, Greg Raper ‘16, dove in at second place, but destroyed Lake Travis’ Matt Hammond ‘17 at the underwater turn, winning first by two seconds. At this meet, against some of the top teams in the state, Westwood was able to secure a win overall.

“I just want to say a very big thanks to the swim team because all of y’all helped me get my TISCA cut that I was so stressed out about. Honestly though the best part wasn’t even getting it…it was seeing y’all running towards my block when I finished and hearing y’all cheer for me,” said Anne Feng ‘18.

This invite was more than a win for the Warriors, it was a chance for the individual racers to gain their times for the annual TISCA meet. TISCA stands for the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association, and it’s one of the biggest meets for the swimmers to partake in before Districts. It is classified as one of the faster meets for the swimmers where they can compete at a higher level with other teams at their same level. Westwood attends the one of the harder qualifying TISCA’s meets in the state held in the Woodlands.

“I did my best during practice before the Austin meet to get my times up, ate healthy to prepare my body for the race, and also wore my fast skin during the meet, so I knew that if I didn’t make my TISCA time I would have no regrets in what I did,” Cole Hebert ‘19 said.

The Austin Invite was just another example of how dedicated the swimmers are to improve their times. This was their kickoff meet to the upcoming faster meets that the swimmers really enjoy because of all the traveling. Considering they were swimming against the most competitive teams in the central Austin area, it allowed them to see where they would place amongst every Texas team. The next swim meet will be November 13th at The University of A&M in College Station.