Star Shines @ Swimming Championships

Austin – The past 30 days have been the result of three years of hard work and hours of practice for 11-year old Mark C. of the BCAT Dolphins Swim Team. After missing nearly six weeks of practice in December and early January due to a broken wrist he knew he had to work harder to achieve his goals and he did just that. About a month after returning to the pool he attended the South Texas Swimming Championships (STAGS) at the University of Texas Swim Center on February 9-11. The results would be amazing for almost anyone, even if they had not been injured.
Mark raced to the silver medal in the 50 yard Breaststroke with a personal best time of 34.50, nearly a second faster then he had covered that stroke distance before. In the preliminaries of the 100 yard Butterfly he dropped 4 seconds from his best time to finish in 1:10.31. Later that evening in the finals for the event he raced to a bronze medal in another best time of 1:09.51. Mark also grabbed three 4th place finishes. His 200 Individual Medley (IM) time was a 2:29.38, an improvement of 5 seconds from his previous best. In the 100 freestyle he posted a 1:00.87 timing, 3 seconds faster than his best time prior to the meet. Mark concluded his meet with a 1:17.83 in the 100 yard Breaststroke, another 5 seconds off his prior personal record. In ten races, at the championship level, he swam to personal best times in every preliminary heat and then improved on those times in the evening finals!
But the young star was not finished. With another month of practice he was ready for the Texas State Championship swim meet at the same pool. Feeling stronger from the extra preparation time he decided to swim the maximum 7 allowed individual events. On Friday, March 9, the hard work again paid off. In the 100 yard Breaststroke he placed 8th in the preliminary heats to qualify for the evening finals where he dropped over 2 more seconds to finish 7th in the state in a time of 1:15.83. He also placed 9th , just missing finals in the 100 IM with a swim of 1:08.15 an improvement of 3 seconds. Saturday saw two 10th place finishes with a 2:30.92 in the 200 IM and a best time of 2:49.47 in the 200 yard breaststroke. Mark also placed 20th in the 100 Fly. Sunday, Mark bounced back with his best performance a 5th place in Texas in the 50 yard breaststroke with a 34.49 best time in the finals. He also swam a 1:01.07 in the 100 Freestyle.
A great month for a star swimmer!
Lauren J, 12, was the other Dolphin to attend STAGS this season. She qualified on the last day by swimming a 34.11 in the 50 yard butterfly. At the championships she improved to 33.73. Perfect timing to finish the season.
Most of the younger Dolphins will be participating in the South Texas Junior Olympics Meet to be held in Burnet March 31 and April 1st.