Heath Swim Dive Team finishes strong at UIL State Championship

(ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX) The Rockwall-Heath High School Swim and Dive team competed over the weekend at the UIL 6A State Championship. The Boys team finished a program high of 28^th in the meet, and the Lady Hawks finished 18^th! Here are the highlights from the weekend:

Lady Hawks

Our Lady Hawks Swim and Dive had a strong performance at the UIL State Meet. The State Meet was highlighted by Alaya Smith’s 100 Breaststroke, who is the first Hawk to win an event at the UIL State Swim Meet.

Alaya set a new school record in the 100 Breaststroke at 1:01.48, which is an Automatic All-American Time. This highlight is followed up by Karly Merriott who finished 10^th in the State in the 500 Freestyle and going her best time in the event. Our Diver, Darby Ratcliffe, also competed in the finals and improved upon her seeding by finishing 14^th in the State in 1 Meter Diving.

Lastly, our Girls Medley relay was able to greatly improve their finish at the state meet, going into the finals session ranked 15^th they finished 11^th in their event (Relay Team of Kylee Conrad, Alaya Smith, Amelia Bird, and Josie Gillentine). All of these performances in the finals resulted in a program finish of 18^th in one of the fastest high school meets in the country.

Hawks (Boys)

The Boys Swim program finished with a program best of 26^th in the UIL State Swim and Dive Meet! Our Boys meet was highlighted by Grayson Tidwell, who in prelims set the school record in the 100 Backstroke at 50.08. Grayson swam in the A finals, and finished 7^th overall in the 100 Backstroke the following day. Our boys team had strong finishes in the relays as well, making the B finals in both Freestyle relay events (200 and 400). Both teams were made up of Logan Graham, John Papp, Grayson Tidwell, and Lucius Yu-Kisselbach. Both relays finished 13^th in the meet, and the 400 Relay was .01 second away from breaking our school record!

I am proud of the Hawks this season, battling through this meet and giving their best every-time they stepped up on the blocks or boards. Our seniors left our program better than how it was started, and we are excited to see the progress that will be made in the future! Thanks to all the support from parents, administrators, teachers, and friends of our athletes who helped us along the way!

Submitted by Jing Carpenter for publication in Blue Ribbon News.

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