LaredoBuzz.Com

Courtesy Alex Meyer, 

     (Laredo, Tx)-Last month, the United ISD swim teams traveled to Brownsville and Corpus Christi to compete in the Pre-Regional on December 13^th and 14^th and the Holiday Classic on December 21^st.

 The Alexander High School women’s swim team set a new District record in the 200 free relay in Brownsville with a time of 1:46.90, breaking the old record by more than 3 seconds.  Kassie Hsu, Samantha Babiak, Maria Rodriguez-Perez, and Ayeesha Mohammed set the new  record.

 At Pre-Regional, Alexander High School finished 2^nd in the women’s division earning a total of 303 points and in the men’s division Alexander finished 11th with a total of 91 points. The United High School women’s team placed 11^th with a total of 52 points while the men from United High School placed 13^th with a total of 66 points.The United South women’s team scored 26 points to land it in 18^th place. 

The LBJ women’s team gained 16 points to land it in 20^th over all, and LBJ men’s team tied for 21^st place with a total of 15 points. Both the Alexander High School women’s and men’s swim teams placed second at the Holiday Classic. The women’s swim team scored a total of 97 points while the men’s swim team scored a total of 78 points.  The United High School women’s team came in 8^{th with} a total of 20 points and the United South women’s team nabbed 10^th place with 12 points.  The United High School men’s swim team placed 7^th with a total of 37 points and LBJ finished in 11^th   place with a total of 10 points.

 This weekend, UISD’s swim teams will travel to McAllen, Texas to participate in the New Year Classic at Nikki Rowe High School located on 2101 N. Ware Road. The meet will begin at 9am. It will be the last swim meet before District is to be held and will take place on February 1^st, 2014 in Corpus Christi.

That competition will be followed by a Regional meet in Brownsville on the following weekend. There will be several UISD high school seniors swimming in the final meets of their high school career, including Martin Martinez a senior from Alexander High School, who has made State in swimming  for the last four years.  Martinez has set district records during his four years in the swim program and will try to set additional records as he competes in his final championship meets.

Martin’s achievements in the UISD swimming program have helped to further popularize the sport in the District and our community. Moreover, the District has taken note of an annual increase in the number of students who inquire about the UISD swimming program. Roberto Diaz also from Alexander will also be graduating this year. His focus is set on competing at the regional for a fourth time. Other seniors from Alexander High School are Heni Gutman Romero and Ana Jimenez.

From United South, Senior Vanessa Salazar had held the record in the 50 free during her time swimming for UISD. Vanessa Salazar will graduate from United South with the distinction of having scored the most points for the United South women‘s swim team.  

 Brandon Zuazua, Stacy Tovar, Nidia Cruz and Frida Hernandez will be swimming for LBJ High School one final time and are hopefuls for the regionals in Brownsville.  This year’s United High School swim team is comprised of the largest class of seniors to compete for a spot at Regional this year. Those swimmers are Mariel Casanova, Arturo Fernandez, Ana Frescas Miramontes, Eileen Gonzalez, Ricardo Martinez, Luis Munoz, Nathan Paredes, Michael Bentley, Paola Sepulveda, Aurora Sloman-Moll, and Jake Torres.  Ricardo Martinez, also a United High School senior,  has expressed his desire to break The UISD record in the 100 backstroke during the championship meet this February.