The swim and dive team travelled to College Station on Nov. 10, for the Aggieland Invitational swim meet. Both the girls’ and boys’ teams won for an overall victory at the meet. The Warriors swept the swim meet with two freshman records broken, two school records broken, and two meet records broken. The preliminary heats were held in the morning and finals were held in the evening. The swim team had more than half of the team make it to finals, in which only the top 16 finishers from prelims are able to compete.

“I was really surprised [to A final (top 8) as a freshman],” Benji Truong ‘21 said. “The meet was really fun, but before my final swim I was really nervous because I didn’t expect to A final. I didn’t think I broke the record but everyone said I did, maybe I’ll break it for sure at Regionals or Districts or TISCA.”

Many record-breaking swims were executed at this meet. Truong broke the freshman record for the 100-yard breastroke during his race in finals. KyAnh Truong ‘21 swam an amazing 50-yard freestyle race that not only broke the freshman record, but also set a new school record. After doing some research, it was found that Truong swam the fastest 50-yard freestyle in RRISD history. Since high school meets are sanctioned by USA swimming, Truong’s 50 yard free race punched her a ticket to Idaho for Junior National Championships. Truong was also part of two relays, along with Abbey Truong ‘19, Evelyn Ngo ‘19, Sam Caro ‘18, and Ashlyn Carroll ‘18 that broke two meet records. Finally, Matthew Lane ‘18 broke the 100-yard breastroke school record in his race during finals at the end of the night.

“Our team always seems to swim so well at that meet, but this year was extra special,” Coach Matt McBrearty said. “Just many great swims and great dives; lots of best times, some huge TISCA qualifying swims, and by the end of the night we had a bunch of hugs and tears. That was also the first time since I’ve been at Westwood [where] both the boys and girls have won that meet.”

This meet was the last meet for the swim team to qualify for the TISCA meet that will take place from Nov. 17-18. There are many different TISCA meets, and Westwood has been invited to one where only top high school teams in Texas are attending. The past two state champion teams are also going to be a part of this meet.

“I missed [the TISCA cut] in the 500 by .76 and the 50 free .05 but then I made it in the 100 by .04 since I was leading the relay,” Caleb Farris ‘20 said. “[After the meet] lots of us ate at Panera, we all just sat, ate, and talked together, that was a fun time.”

The swim team will travel to Mansfield for the TISCA swim meet on Nov. 17. Go Wood.