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Photo by VYPE Media's Thomas Bingham.
Southlake Carroll Girls Repeat As State Champs; Kingwood Boys End Title Drought
If you've been around Texas high school swimming, you know that one of the most storied programs in the state is found at Southlake Carroll High School. On Saturday at The University of Texas at Austin's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, its girls team won four of the first five UIL 6A swimming and diving state championship meet events to set up a 284-point day and its fourth UIL state championship since 2012.
Southlake Carroll kicked off the classification's action with a win in the Girls 200-yard Medley Relay. Ohio State commit Kit Kat Zenick earned her first of four wins of the day by earning a 1:42.55 time with Corbyn Cormack, Hailey Heldenbrand and Madelyn Clem.
"This year's run was different, especially for me," Zenick said in comparison to her team's 2019 state championship season. "Just because I was a senior and a lot of our state team was freshmen. And it was really great to be a role model for them and be able to help lead the team to their second state title in a row."
Senior Kit Kat Zenick helped Southlake Carroll girls swimming extend its UIL state championship dynasty & talked Oh… https://t.co/zlqOENBnyP— VYPE DFW (@VYPE DFW) 1581825967.0
Riley Francis followed with a Girls 200-yard Freestyle runner-up finish and a 1:47.00 time, and the Dragons added Cormack's 200-yard Individual Medley victory and Zenick's 50-yard Freestyle win.
At this point, Southlake Carroll led second-place Kingwood by 41 points. But, that wasn't good enough for the Dragons. They immediately powered up the jet skis and continued to expand their lead. Hailey Hernandez won the Girls 1-meter Diving event with a 553.70 score and Bridget O'Neil's 532.70 score allowed her to finish in second. Then, Zenick won the Girls 100-yard Freestyle with a 49.05 time and Francis finished right behind her with a 49.51 time.
And a final push of the gas allowed Southlake Carroll to wrap up its latest state title. The Dragons' 200-yard Freestyle Relay Team, which included Francis, Clem, Cormack and Ashley Zettle, recorded a third-place time of 1:34.66 and the 400-yard Freestyle Relay made up of Zenick, Francis, Zettle and Kate Heintz won the final event of the season with a 3:23.42 time.
Another community with a lot of state swimming success is Kingwood and that continued on Saturday. It had a strong day on the boys' side, which was headlined by Kingwood Park's UIL 5A win and Kingwood's UIL 6A title. Both programs leaned heavily on their relay teams and that resulted in the Panthers' fifth UIL state boys swimming championship and the Mustangs' seventh UIL boys crown for the sport.
Photo by VYPE Media's Thomas Bingham.
Kingwood High School may not have won any boys state championship meet events on Saturday, but its relay teams medaled enough to give its swimming and diving program a winning point total of 189.5.
Texas commit Victor Tremblay played a major role in the Mustangs' success by recording a second-place time of 1:31.58 with Garret Green, Owen Pickering and Luke Langley in the Boys 200-yard Medley Relay. He later added a third-place time of 1:23.77 with Green, Connor Little and Gabe Roberts in the Boys 200-yard Freestyle Relay. The swimmers' combined effort helped the Mustangs top fellow North Houston program and UIL state runner-up The Woodlands (186 points) for its first UIL state swim championship since 2009.
"It's been 11 years since we've had the state title and I can't be any more happy with the guys than I am right now," said Tremblay. "I've seen all the hard work they put in through these last four years I've swam with them and all the grinding they put in. It's paid off, so I'm just really happy to be a Kingwood swimmer."
It’s a Kingwood boys sweep at UIL State Swimming! Kingwood Park grabbed 5A title to start the day & Victor Tremblay… https://t.co/mQVBDZB5pf— VYPE Houston (@VYPE Houston) 1581819727.0
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VYPE U: Shadow Creek Finishes Unfinished Business
The unfinished business has been finished. After a disappointing loss in the state final last year against the Highland Park Scots, the Shadow Creek Sharks finished it on Friday night with a 28-22 win against the Denton Ryan Raiders in the 2019 UIL 5A Division I State Championship. The Sharks finished this season 16-0 and earned their first state title in only their second year as a UIL varsity football program.
The Sharks started off the first quarter with a touchdown by quarterback Kyron Drones. The Raiders, however, would respond on the ensuing kick return with a trick play to take it to the house. A two-point conversion would bring the score to 8-7 to end the first quarter.
Going into the second quarter, an interception by the Raiders left them on their own eight-yard line. The Sharks' defense would respond with a quick three-and-out. During the punt, a strange series of events led to points for the Sharks. First, a bad snap led Denton Ryan's punter into the end zone, where instead of falling on the ball or kicking it out of the endzone for a safety he kicked it forward, which is an illegal kick. In the confusion, Randy Masters recovered the kick and, as everyone seemed unsure of what to do, he returned the ball 37 yards for a touchdown. Because the penalty was not a dead ball penalty, the touchdown stood, putting the Sharks back in front 14-8. The Raiders would force another interception on the Sharks, but couldn't capitalize, sending the Sharks into the locker room up 14-8 at the half.
The Sharks have been known for their halftime adjustments all season, and this game was no different. They came out in the third quarter and quickly put a scoring drive together. Drones added his second rushing touchdown of the night to extend their lead to 21-8. The Raiders would cut into the Sharks' lead with a touchdown, sending the game into the fourth quarter with the Sharks leading 21-15.
The fourth quarter was a story about defense. The Denton Ryan Raiders would recover a fumble on the Sharks' 39-yard line, but the Sharks' defense would not let the Raiders' offense get going. With two minutes left in the game, the Sharks would extend their lead to 28-15 with a touchdown by running back Kelvon Brown. With 1:14 left, the Raiders would respond again to pull within six, 28-22. With three timeouts in their pocket, the Raiders' defense would stop the Sharks with 50 seconds left on the clock. The Raiders would push the ball down the field, helped by a defensive unnecessary roughness penalty. With two seconds left on the clock, a Hail Mary to senior Drew Sanders, would be deflected by who many would say was the hero of the game, TJ Marshall, to end the state championship 28-22.
Kansas State commit Jeremiah Harris was awarded Defensive MVP and junior quarterback Kryon Drones was awarded Offensive MVP. The Sharks put the cherry on the cake on Friday night after only two varsity seasons, and the seniors of the 2020 class will be allowed to say that they ended their UIL varsity high school careers with a 31-1 football record, plus back-to-back state championship appearances and a state title.