Victory and still champions.

The Robert E. Lee boys and girls swim teams swept the District 12-5A meet Saturday at Rockwall ISD Aquatic Center. For the Red Raiders, it was their eighth consecutive league title with the Lady Raiders captured their seventh-straight district crown.

Last year’s realignment brought Rockwall and Rockwall-Heath to the district, which both boast strong swimming programs. In fact it was Rockwall who forced a split of the district the last time REL failed to dominate both in 2005.

Lee graduated three Division I swimmers last year and coach Matt Franks was cautiously optimistic what his young squad would accomplish in a more competitive district meet.

“I talked to the kids before this meet and explained to them the expectations and to (continue) the tradition we’d built over the last decade or so,” Franks said in a phone call afterward. “It was a bigger district, a stronger district, a faster district and it was a great total team win today.”

The top six finishers in each event have qualified for the Class 5A Region II meet which will take place Feb. 8-9, also in Rockwall.

The Lady Raiders built a big lead and were never threatened, totaling 168 points with Rockwall in second at 125 and Rockwall-Heath third at 77.

Leading the way for the girls was junior Emily Stanford who took first place in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke. Lauren Lewis was second in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle with Valerie Vargas second in the 100-yard backstroke.

Lee’s 200-yard freestyle relay team also captured first place with Vargas, Dyer, Stanford and Lewis combining for a time of 1:54.96.

“This was about having a few superstars this year; this was a true total team effort,” Franks said. “We had girls who just swam their hearts out. They came together as a team and everyone stepped up in a big way; stealing points (with top 6 finishes) in every event.”

The Lee boys did enough to edge out Rockwall with the Red Raiders totaling 138 points compared to 114 for the Yellowjackets and 104 from third-place Rockwall-Heath.

Sophomore David Hudson grabbed first place in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke with Lee teammate Jack Oliver taking top honors in the 100 butterfly. Billy Norton was second in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Franks said the meet turned in REL’s favor following the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Red Raiders trailed Rockwall by one point entering the event but the Yellowjackets failed to finish while Lee’s team of Hudson, Tanner Anderson, Matt Lamott and Oliver gabbed second place in a time of 1:36.53 and 14 big points to move in front of Rockwall and stay there.

“In the 200 relay, there was a miscue on Rockwall’s part and we were able to take advantage of it,” Franks said. “We also had some freshmen boys step up and score us some big points.”

 

District 12-5A Swimming and Diving Championships

Rockwall ISD Aquatic Center

Top 3 finishers and Lee results

Girls

Team Scores — 1, Robert E. Lee, 168; 2, Rockwall, 125; 3, Rockwall-Heath, 77; 4, Longview, 42; 5, Mesquite Horn, 41; 6, North Mesquite, 32; 7, Mesquite, 23.

200-yard medley relay — 1, Rockwall, 1:57.94; 2, Rockwall-Heath, 2:11.44; 3, Robert E. Lee (Kelsi Oldham, Delaney Mayfield, Maria Chivacuan, Naina Bains), 2:13.74

200-yard freestyle — 1, Haylie Harbin, Rockwall, 2:01.44; 2, Lauren Lewis, Lee, 2:08.38; 3, Delaney Mayfield, Lee, 2:13.04. Lee: 6, Emily Shackleford, 2:26.35; 8, Melanie Webb, 2:31.88.

200-yard individual medley — 1, Emily Stanford, Lee, 2:24.59; 2, Megan Conner, Rockwall, 2:30.67; 3, Summer Scown, Rockwall, 2:38.68. Lee: 4, Claudia McCown, 2:46.50; 5, Kelsi Oldham, 2:52.03.

50-yard freestyle — 1, Raena Eldridge, Rockwall, 25.27; 2, Harper Gillentine, Heath, 25.90; 3, Morgan Barnes, Rockwall, 26.12. Lee: 5, Haley Dyer, 27.63; 7, Sydney Smith, 29.10; 8, Lindsey Sweet, 29.11.

100-yard butterfly — 1, Alexandra Gerner, North Mesquite, 1:07.38; 2, Alejandra Mota, Mesquite Horn, 1:07.62; 3, Summer Scown, Rockwall, 1:12.48. Lee: 4, Maria Chivacuan, 1:12.74; 5, Rachel Flanagan, 1:12.87; 6, Claudia McCown, 1:15.55; Kaylee Armour, 1:17.44.

100-yard freestyle — 1, Harper Gillentine, Heath, 55.22; 2, Morgan Barnes, Rockwall, 55.44; 3, Haley Dyer, Lee, 1:00.09. Lee: 4, Valerie Vargas, 1:03.29; 5, Sydney Smith, 1:04.30; 6, Naina Barnes, 1:04.36.

500-yard freestyle — 1, Haylie Harbin, Rockwall, 5:19.36; 2, Lauren Lewis, Lee, 5:30.16; 3, Delaney Mayfield, Lee, 5:48.21. Lee: 7, Emily Shackleford, 6:22.17; 9, Kelsi Oldham, 6:43.97.

200-yard freestyle relay — 1, Robert E. Lee (Valerie Vargas, Haley Dyer, Emily Stanford, Lauren Lewis), 1:54.96; 2, Rockwall-Heath, 2:04.30; 3, North Mesquite, 2:06.81.

100-yard backstroke — 1, Renna Eldridge, Rockwall, 1:03.47; 2, Valerie Vargas, Lee, 1:13.48; 3, Mikaela Lammers, Longview, 1:16.50. Lee: 5, Jessica Thompson, 1:17.11; 6, Lindsey Sweet, 1:18.80.

100-yard breaststroke — 1, Emily Stanford, Lee, 1:12.60; 2, Breana Williams, Heath, 1:15.66; 3, Naina Bains, Lee, 1:23.14. Lee: 4, Kaylee Armour, 1:23.75; 6, Julia Batis, 1:30.12.

400-yard freestyle relay — 1, Rockwall, 3:53.23; 2, Rockwall-Heath, 4:0739; 3, Robert E. Lee (Haley Dyer, Valerie Vargas, Emily Stanford, Lauren Lewis), 4:07.49.

 

Boys

Team Scores — 1, Robert E. Lee, 138; 2, Rockwall, 114; 3, Rockwall-Heath, 104; 4, Longview, 50; 5, Mesquite Horn, 43; 6, North Mesquite, 39; 7, Mesquite, 6.

200-yard medley relay — 1, Rockwall, 1:45.25; 2, Robert E. Lee (Sean Garcia, Billy Norton, Seth Oldham, Allison Ayres), 1:53.95; 3, Longview, 1:57.37.

200-yard freestyle — 1, Jared Butler, Heath, 1:46.40; 2, William Rapp, Rockwall, 1:48.24; 3, Jack Oliver, Lee, 1:48.59. Lee: 5, Tanner Anderson, 1:56.32; 9, Brian Cousineau, 2:04.82.

200-yard individual medley — 1, David Hudson, Lee, 2:02.24; 2, Arnold Hunter, Mesquite Horn, 2:02.68; 3, Justin Tokuz, Rockwall, 2:09.15. Lee: 5, Allison Ayres, 2:16.22; 7, Austin Lewis, 2:25.91.

50-yard freestyle — 1, Jeremy Nichols, North Mesquite, 23.18; 2, Cole Perlitz, Heath, 23.21; 3, Mitchell Eldridge, Rockwall, 24.31. Lee: 7, Sean Steddom, 26.57; 9, Billy Norton, 27.70; 15, Joseph Spellman, Lee, 29,47.

100-yard butterfly — 1, Jack Oliver, Lee, 55.11; 2, Justin Tokuz, Rockwall, 55.93; 3, Noah Day, Rockwall, 56.20. Lee: 5, Coen Thompson, 1:04.02; 8, Joseph Abbott, 1:05.94.

100-yard freestyle — 1, Jeremy Nichols, North Mesquite, 49.62; 2, Cole Perlitz, Heath, 51.44; 3, Mitchell Eldridge, Rockwall, 52.97. Lee: 4, Tanner Anderson, 53.37; 6, Sean Garcia, 55.56; Sean Steddom, 57.46.

500-yard freestyle — 1, Jared Butler, Heath, 4:53.37; 2, William Rapp, Rockwall, 4:59.97; 3, Eliseo Villarreal, Heath, 5:08.37. 5, Brian Cousineau, 5:34.55; 6, Joseph Abbott, 5:45.47; 7, Coen Thompson, 5:48.00; 9, Luc Boatman, 6:11.63.

200-yard freestyle relay — 1, Rockwall-Heath, 1:33.30; 2, Robert E. Lee (David Hudson, Tanner Anderson, Matt Lamott, Jack Oliver), 1:36.53; 3, North Mesquite, 1:43.05.

100-yard backstroke — 1, David Hudson, Lee, 56.73; 2, Hunter Arnold, Mesquite Horn, 57.87; 3, Noah Day, Rockwall, 58.48. Lee: 5, Seth Oldham, 1:01.15; 10, Joseph Spellman, 1:13.16.

100-yard breaststroke — 1, Alexander Rodriguez, Rockwall, 1:02.24; 2, Billy Norton, Lee, 1:08.62; 3, Allison Ayres, Lee, 1:08.81. Lee: 5, Austin Lewis, 1:15.03.

400-yard freestyle relay — 1, Rockwall, 3:25.20; 2, Rockwall-Heath, 3:27.66; 3, Robert E. Lee (Jack Oliver, Tanner Anderson, Matt Lamott, David Hudson), 3:33.59.