Tyler Legacy swimmers Emily Heller, Courtney Reilly, Ella Eckert, Ava Greene, Ellie Lemmert and Madalyn Petty are headed to the state meet in Austin. (Brandon Ogden/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Tyler Legacy is sending six girls to the UIL Swimming and Diving State Meet Friday and Saturday at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

The Red Raiders will compete in three events in Class 6A at the state meet.

Freshman Madalyn Petty is going in the 200 free and the 500 free. She is also on the 200 freestyle relay team with seniors Ellie Lemmert and Ava Greene and sophomore Ella Eckert. Sophomore Courtney Reilly and junior Emily Heller are also on the team as alternates.

“This is the first time since I’ve been here (about nine years) that we’ve sent a girls relay team to state,” Tyler Legacy head swim coach Jason Petty said. “It’s been an unusual trip. Each girl kind of has their own story. Ellie came from Brownsboro, and she was actually at the 4A meet. Ava is on the drill team, so she’s kind of like a dual-sport person. Madalyn is more of a distance swimmer. Ella is the younger sister of one of the fastest boys we had, Sam Eckert. It’s kind of a weird combination. And then they had some disqualifications in some of their other relays that may have been even better, which was kind of heartbreaking. This is not necessarily the one that they thought they would have made at the beginning of the year, but it’s cool that they get that chance.”

The relay team is seeded 13th out of 16 teams with a qualifying time of 1:39.01 that won the Class 6A Region III meet. The top eight teams advance to the finals on Saturday.

“They’re kind of seeded at the bottom, so making the finals the next day will be a challenge,” Coach Petty said. “However, they’re about 200 tenths of a second off of the school record, so that’s a goal. And then they’re about a second a half from the All-American consideration time, so that gives them a couple of things to kind of shoot for, not just making the finals, which they obviously want to do that, as well.”

No matter the result, two things are evident — they’ll have fun and they’ll be together.

“It’s a really cool experience,” Eckert said. “I’ve grown up with these girls pretty much my whole life, so it’s a really special moment, especially with Ava and Ellie leaving us this year, that we get to have one last hoorah and a fun time. We’re pretty much together 24/7. We’re with each other on weekends even if we don’t practice. We’re just always together.”

“I’ve been looking forward to this my freshman year,” Greene said. “Relays have been really close to going, two third-place relays. Just to have this group of girls and having that thought at the beginning of the year that we might be able to go and just really bonding the whole year, it’s going to be a really fun girls trip to bond and all hang out together. We will be swimming hard and trying our best at the meet, but we seem to do better when we’re all having fun and happy and goofing off behind the blocks.”

“We care about how we do, but we also care about having a good time and just encouraging each other,” Lemmert said. “Behind the blocks, we’re always very talkative and we’re dancing. And we all just want each other to PR. I’m really happy about it. I feel like this is pretty much the best way I could end off my high school career.”

“It’s really exciting,” Madalyn Petty said. “We were really hoping for it this entire year, but at the same time, we weren’t really expecting it. We’ve been working hard all season for this, and I think it’s great we get to go with some of our closest friends.”

“It’s really excited,” Reilly said. “I’m glad that I’ll be able to witness it and hopefully we will be able to make it again another time and be able to swim. It’s great to see my friends succeed.”

“It’s great, especially with our two seniors,” Heller said. “I’ve grown up with these girls, so getting to experience their last high school meet is super exciting. It’s super great to see them get to go out and do their best.”

Petty enters the 500 free as the top seed with a regional winning time of 4:50.02. She is seeded seventh in the 200 free with a regional winning time of 1:51.07.

“I’m really excited, and I hope I win, but if I don’t then it’s not going to be the end of the world,” Petty said. “This means a lot to mean because I’ve been really wanting to do this ever since eighth grade.”

The Class 6A prelims begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday, and the 6A finals are at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.