AUSTIN — The Keller boys talked about it every day in practice, they said. Ever since Maximus Williamson and River Paulk knew they were joining the program, the time was on their minds, they added.
1:19.27.
The boys 200-yard freestyle relay national record was set in 2012 by a Jacksonville Bolles’ team which featured two future Olympic gold medallists. After Saturday’s UIL Swimming & Diving State Meet at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, it belongs to Keller’s team of Williamson, Paulk, Cooper Lucas and Riccardo Osio, which may have future Olympic medallists of its own.
Related:2024 UIL 5A state swim meet: Final team and individual results
The feeling after the win?
“Relief,” they all said, from long-standing expectation.
“When Cooper was coming to the wall, I was so scared to look back,” Paulk said. “When I saw 19.2, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We did it.”
The success comes two years after all three of Keller’s boys relay teams were disqualified. The quartet beat the record time by six one-hundredths of a second, with three of them doing sub-20-second splits.
“We definitely had a lot of lows,” Osio said. “It just feels amazing to come back in the biggest way possible.”
Earlier in the day, Williamson broke the 13-year-old national record in the 200-yard individual medley. The UVA-commit added it to his ever-growing list of accolades, which includes winning at the World Junior Championships.
Then, right before the boys relay team took the water, their girls counterparts set a new all-class state record. They wanted to “one-up” that, Paulk joked.
“We took that as a challenge and we rose up to it,” Osio said.
Reedy makes program history
Jade Alvarez touched the wall for the final time and looked up to her three Reedy teammates in the girls 400-yard freestyle relay with one question: “We did it?”
Their head coach Jenny Beagle flashed them the thumbs-up. A year after finishing second, the efforts of Isa Henderson, Isahbel Krasht, Lily Powell and Alvarez in the final girls relay of the UIL Swimming & Diving 5A State Meet on Saturday secured the school’s first-ever state swimming and diving championship by just three points.
“It’s kind of cool that forever, no matter what happens, we’ll always be the first [Reedy] team to get a state title,” Alvarez said.
The Lions earned just one podium on Saturday — Henderson’s second-place finish in the girls 500-yard freestyle. But their swimming depth and 80 points from relays clinched the championship.
They also needed a gutsy eight-place in the girls 1-meter diving final by senior Camryn Gantzer, who returned a month ago from a back injury.
“Last year, it was just sheer excitement that we were right there,” Henderson said. “This year, we knew we had to train just as hard and even better to get to that point. As a team, we were trying to keep it clean, smooth, no DQs, and take as many kids as we could here to state.”
Medley dominance
Campbell Chase set another 5A record mark on Saturday in the girls 200-yard individual medley championship final at 1:56.80 — also now her personal best — to win it a fourth-straight year.
“It just feels so much more special when you know it’s the fastest you’ve ever gone,” Chase said.
The Woodrow Wilson senior also took gold in the girls 100-yard breaststroke, two one-hundredths of a second behind the 5A record. It’s her first gold not in the individual medley at the Texas Swimming Center, which she’ll call home starting next year.
“Oh my God, it felt like such a relief,” Chase said. “It was like, ‘Finally.’ That one almost felt a little better.”
Record race
All three podium-place swimmers in the boys 100-yard breaststroke beat the old 5A record. Lovejoy’s Grant Hu said he knew he had it when he turned off the wall for the final 25-yard stretch.
Hu prepared all season to try and win a different event, the 200-yard individual medley, and felt “robbed” after a false start disqualification in the regional tournament, he said. Saturday’s gold medal, the first of his career after multiple silver medals, erased most of the bitter taste that left.
“I was like, this is my senior year, this is my only individual [event], I got to win,” Hu said. “It was an awesome race.”
On Twitter: @SportsDayHS
2024 UIL 5A state swim meet: Final team and individual results2024 UIL girls basketball playoffs: Regional tournament results for Dallas-area teams
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Sign up for our FREE HS newsletter