The Warrior swim team took on the State Championships at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Feb. 15 and Feb. 16. Although head coach Matt McBrearty took a total of 11 swimmers, the girls’ team was the most successful, placing eighth overall in the meet.

“I thought the meet was great, the girls finished top ten in state and broke a school record in the 200 freestyle relay, it was really just a fun rewarding end to a really good season,” Coach McBrearty said.

The girls’ 200-yard medley relay, consisting of Grace Bradford ‘20, Jackie Liu ‘22, Evelyn Ngo ‘19, and KyAnh Truong ‘21, placed eighth in the preliminaries, allowing the Lady Warriors to squeeze into the first heat of finals. Although their time in the finals was slower, the girls managed to place eighth overall.

“I feel really proud of myself because I was one of the two freshman that made it [to state], and I never thought that I would be so successful in my first year of high school,” Liu said. “I hope that I can keep doing well through my next years of high school.”

In one of the most competitive events, the girls’ 50-yard freestyle, K. Truong placed fourth in the prelims, putting her with the top girls in the state. The finals heat was an intense race that ended with K. Truong sprinting her way to the third place on the podium.

“I have gone to practice every morning and night, and I feel like that work has really paid off, It was really close, but getting third in the finals was really rewarding and I’m happy with the outcome,” K. Truong said.

The next triumph was in the girls’ 100-yard butterfly in which Ngo finished 11th in the prelims, but was unable to climb up in place and finished 13th in the final swim.

“I competed at state for the 100 fly against other schools and no one else out of our team made it for girls,” Ngo said. “It was a really cool experience because last year I got cut off at district so I didn’t make it to state, I feel super lucky this year because I made it through district, regionals, and state.”

Senior Ethan Riser also finished 11th in the prelims of the boys’ 100-yard fly, and swam his exact prelims time in the finals, but rose one spot to 10th place.

“I did better at regionals for the 100 fly, but I was really happy I made it into state individually for the first time in my three years at Westwood. I was overall just really proud of my performance, it was so worth it,” Riser said.

To conclude the meet, Senior Captain Abbey Truong, Ngo, Ayame Castel ‘22, and K. Truong competed in the girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay to finish sixth and broke the school record on their final swim.

“Personally, I felt like I did really well this final meet and my relay did amazing considering we broke the school record,” A. Truong said. “That relay got sixth in the state and since this was my last swim for the team, I’m super happy with how it turned out.”

The State Championships conclude the 2018-2019 swim and dive season, with the team continuing to train for the next season.