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Plano boys, Allen girls swimmers victorious in regional redux
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
ROCKWALL -- In many ways, the Region III-5A Swimming and Diving Championships mirrored the District 9-5A Meet two weeks ago.
That was apparent everywhere from the cast of 9-5A swimmers who punched their tickets to state, to the manner in which the Plano Senior boys and Allen girls captured their respective regional championships Saturday at the Rockwall ISD Aquatic Center.
"I can't express how proud I am of those girls," said Brent Mitchell, Allen head coach. "Their goal has been state all year, to get as many relays and individuals as they could to state and finish as a top-five team. They've put themselves in that position and now we have to finish it off in two weeks."
All three Allen girls relays placed first and junior Jennifer Brennecke added a pair of individual regional titles to the afternoon by taking first in the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.90) and the 100 breaststroke (1:06.29).
The Lady Eagles totaled 433.50 points, more than doubling up second-place Plano West's 207 and even exceeding the mark of West and third-place Plano (203) combined.
On the boys end, the Wildcats overcame a slow start and ratcheted things up a notch midway through to add a regional title to their torrid postseason. Plano secured six automatic spots in the state meet, including four by junior Kyle Whieldon in the 200 freestyle (1:41.88), 100 free (46.66) and as a leg in the 200 and 400 free relays.
As a team, the Wildcats posted 221 points to nip by Belton (213) and Dallas Jesuit (193).
With 16 spots up for grabs in each event at state, the winner from each of the eight regions advances, alongside the next eight fastest non-automatic-qualifying times.
Schools will now play the waiting game to see if any of their swimmers make the cut for those remaining eight slots for the right to swim on Feb. 22 at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center at The University of Texas in Austin for the Class 5A Swimming and Diving State Championships.
For more coverage of the Region III-5A Meet and a full list of state qualifiers, check out Thursday's editions of the Plano Star Courier, Allen American and McKinney Courier-Gazette.
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