RACE Swim Team achieves their highest points finish at state championship

Team earns 6th place at Long Course TAGS Meet

(ROCKWALL, TX – August 12, 2015) The 2015 TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming) Long Course Swim Meet, held July 22-26 at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin, was by far the most successful for the Rockwall Aquatics Center of Excellence (RACE) swimmers.

The TAGS meet is designed for specific age groups (10 & under, 11/12 and 13/14) with qualification times that must be met in order to swim. RACE qualified 32 swimmers for this state championship.

Day one set the tone for this meet. In the very first event, the 800 freestyle, the 13/14 girls Janelle Hummingbird, Ashley Conrad and Skylar Tranberg finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Combined with the second place finish by the 13/14 girls 800M free relay team ( Emma Hulquist, Janelle Hummingbird, Ruth Huffman, Ashley Conrad) as well as a 9th place finish by Forrest Harbin (800M freestyle) and 11th place finish in the 13/14 boys 800M free relay (Jace Brown, Forrest Harbin, Logan Graham, Joseph Hite), RACE finished the first night in 1st place with 103 points.

It took a better part of the second night for other teams to catch up. Jace Brown made sure that would not be an easy feat as he took the title for Boys Highest Point Total with 133 (points are awarded for top 16 finishes). He also lead the team in medal count with 7. He won Gold in 100M & 200M Freestyle, 100M & 200M Butterfly and 200M Backstroke, Silver in the 100M Backstroke and 3rd place Bronze in the 50M Freestyle.

Also making the medal stand for individual performances were Janelle Hummingbird (Silver in 800M Freestyle and 4th place Bronze in 1,500M Freestyle) Ashley Conrad ( 3rd place Bronze in 800 Freestyle and 3rd place Bronze in 1,500M Freestyle), Amelia Bird (Silver in 200M Butterfly), Phoebe Mosley (3rd place Bronze in 50M Backstroke), Emma Hultquist (4th place Bronze in 400M Freestyle) and Skylar Tranberg (4th place Bronze in 800M Freestyle).

The 13/14 girls relay teams brought home 3 silver medals, 200M Free relay (Hultquist, Conrad, Hummingbird, Huffman), 400M Free relay (Hultquist, Conrad, Hummingbird, Huffman) and 800M Free relay (Hultquist, Hummingbird, Huffman, Conrad).

The top 10 point totals for RACE were 1. Jace Brown – 133 2. Ashley Conrad -72 3. Phoebe Mosley – 71 4. Janelle Hummingbird -55 5. Amelia Bird – 54 6. Emma Hultquist – 47 7. Christopher Rickabaugh – 41 8. Skylar Tranberg – 34 9. Ruth Huffman – 22 10. Lucius Yu-Kisselbach – 21. Other top point earners were Kylie Conrad (20), Hannah Merrill (19) and Forrest Harbin (19).

After the tide settled, RACE came away with its highest points finish (6th place combined boys/girls) with 1,002. The Girls finished 4th place with 648.5 points. Boys placed 12th with 354 points. The 13/14 Girls finished 2nd in this age/gender division with 436 points. RACE had 80 top 16 finishes throughout the meet.

RACE qualifiers are as follows:

• 10 & under – Phoebe Mosley, Ava Langston, Kat Putchinski, Avery Whitworth
• 11/12 Girls – Kylie Conrad, Bailey Morrow, Grace Oliver, Hannah Merrill, Laci Black, Josie Guillentine, Chloe Penton, Rebecca Simpson
• 11/12 Boys – Tray Armstrong, Christopher Rickabaugh, Joshua Richardson, Grayson Tidwell, Lucius Yu-Kisselbach, Addison English
• 13/14 Girls – Amelia Bird, Kendall Brown, Nicole Bruner, Ashley Conrad, Ruth Huffman, Emma Hultquist, Janelle Hummingbird, Skylar Tranberg
• 13/14 Boys – Jace Brown, Kyle Fletcher, Logan Graham, Joseph Hite, Forrest Harbin, Johann Kuipers
• Coaches – Wagner da Silva, Tom Applegate, Eric Paden

Submitted by Jim Hummingbird.

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  Race, Rockwall, swim, tag