OK, and also, both the Abilene High School and Cooper High School swim teams were inside the warm climes of the Phillips Family Center, which houses the pool at McMurry University, so the weather outside didn’t matter.
What did matter was what was going on inside, and what was going on was training for next weekend’s UIL regional championship swim meets. Abilene High will be competing in the Region I-6A meet Feb. 4-5 in Mansfield, while at the same Cooper will be competing in the Region I-5A championships in Lubbock.
The goal for each? To qualify as many athletes as possible for their respective state meets, which will be Feb. 18-19 at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin.
“One of our top goals for each team at regionals is to set personal bests, or PB’s as we call them,” fifth-year Abilene ISD swimming coach Kelly McNamee said. “Our swimmers like to call them ‘Peanut Butters’ just to have fun with it. We want them to have fun and enjoy the experience. Some of them haven’t yet been to regionals, and I want them to enjoy this and do the very best they can.”
Cooper High Senior Jeremiah Thomas
One of the district’s top hopes for an individual regional championship is Cooper senior Jeremiah Thomas, who two weeks ago at the district meet set a meet record on his way to winning the 100-meter freestyle (48.80) while also winning the 50-meter freestyle. He was named the Athlete of the Meet for his efforts.
“I had a lot of emotions at once,” Thomas said of the district meet. “Going into it – despite training – I was skeptical about what I could accomplish because I was out with COVID, and then we missed another couple of days with schools closed. I think I had one or two days of practice before district. I wanted to break my record in the 50 free from last year, but when I broke it in the 100 free this year I couldn’t believe it.
“My mindset going into regionals this year is to do everything I can to get ready,” he said. “I’m still recovering from COVID, but I want to surpass what I did last year and get back to state. My goal in each race is a two-top finish and then the goal at state is to get to the final heat in the 50 freestyle and she what happens.”
Also leading the Cooper boys’ team is junior Levi Bryan, who finished fifth at the district meet in the 100-meter breaststroke and will swim that event t regionals. Also competing at the regional meet for Cooper will be junior Linnora Baker in the 200 meter individual medley, along with the 200 meter girls’ medley relay team and the 400-meter freestyle relay team. The boys also advanced the 200-meter freestyle relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay teams.
Cooper placed fifth overall at the district meet (boys were fifth and girls sixth) and 11 personal-best times were recorded.
On the Abilene High side, the Eagles qualified all of their boys’ and girls’ relay teams and 18 personal bests were recorded.
“We have some really strong relays teams at Abilene High made up of a lot of young swimmers,” McNamee said. “Freshman Landon Schroeder is a really strong swimmer and has really taken off this year. Every swimmer at Abilene High dropped their personal best times anywhere from 5-15 seconds at the district meet, which is very impressive.
“With all of our swimmers at both schools, we’ve started easing off on them in workouts this week as we prepare for regionals,” McNamee said. “We’ll let them get more sleep and get their bodies rested and ready to go.”
Abilene High School Regional Qualifiers
Boys
200-Meter Freestyle Relay, 200-Meter Medley. Relay, 400-Meter Freestyle Relay
(Dominic Connor (12), Landon Schroeder(9), Jayden Palacio(11), Finn Voss(11)) Alternate: Zachary Ingram
Girls
200-Meter Freestyle Relay, 200-Meter Medley. Relay, 400-Meter Freestyle Relay
(Olivia Horn(10), Lili Ortega(11), Anastasia Braun (11), Alexis Taylor(10), Sakura Ramirez (11),Emilee Thompson (9)) Alternate: Kristina Braun (9)
Cooper High School Regional Qualifiers
Boys
Jeremiah Thomas – 50-meter Freestyle, 100-meter Freestyle
Levi Bryan – 100-yard Breaststroke
200-Meter Freestyle Relay, 400-Meter Freestyle Relay
(Jeremiah Thomas (12), Levi Bryan (11), Alex Longoria (9), Alan Harris (10))
Girls
Linnora Baker – 200-Meter Individual Medley
200-Meter Freestyle Relay, 400-Meter Freestyle Relay
(Kadence Viel (11), Linnora Baker (11), Ella Shoestag (9), CJ Kinkade (9))
