Clean Sweep

SA Times - The Central High School boys and girls swim teams dominated a pair of District 3-5A opponents for the second week in a row on Thursday. A week after sweeping a dual meet against Odessa High and Odessa Permian, the Bobcats and Lady Cats did the same against Abilene High and Abilene Cooper at the Gus Clemens Aquatic Center. The Bobcats defeated Abilene High 75-15 and Abilene Cooper 79-8. The Lady Cats defeated Abilene High 63-22 and Abilene Cooper 63-22. "It wasn't as close as Odessa," Central head coach David Hague said. "But we had some real good swims."

The Central boys were led by Matt McLaughlin and Sebastian Haynes. McLaughlin won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 butterfly. He was also on Central A's winning 400-freestyle relay and Central B's second-place 200 freestyle relay. Haynes won the 100 freestyle and the 50 freestyle. He was also on Central A's winning 400 freestyle relay and Central A's winning 200 freestyle relay. The Bobcats also got first-place finishes from their 200 medley A relay, Zach Daniel in the 200 freestyle, Eric Faust in the 500 freestyle, John Hague in the 100 backstroke and Matthew Mahler in the 100 breaststroke. The Central boys won all 11 events.

Some of the better races were the relays, which saw Central teams fighting each other to the finish. In the 200-medley relay, Central A bested Central B by 8 seconds. In the 200-freestyle relay, Central A beat Central B by 2 seconds, and in the 400-freestyle relay, Central B defeated Central A by 6 seconds. "Some of our guys hadn't swam before," McLaughlin said. "This was just to see where they are at and to swim some different events that we hadn't swam before."

The Lady Cats were led by Alex Porter, Whitney Stout and Drew Thieman. Porter won the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle, was on Central A's second-place 200 freestyle relay and Central A's winning 400 freestyle relay. Stout was first in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, was on Central B's winning 200 freestyle relay and Central A's winning 400 freestyle relay. Thieman won the 100 breaststroke, was on Central A's winning 200 medley relay and Central B's winning 200 freestyle relay. The Central girls won eight of 11 events. There was no 100 butterfly race contested on the girls' side. One of the best girls races was the 200 freestyle relay. Central B edged Central A at the finish by just over a quarter of a second. In the 400 freestyle relay, Central A beat Central B by 2 seconds.

The meet was also a warm-up for one of the teams' biggest meets of the year - the San Angelo Invitational. The 40th annual event will be next weekend. As many as 20 teams will be in town to compete. "It is a big meet for us because it is our home meet," McLaughlin said. "We always want to do good at it.