Texas 5A and 6A State Swimming & Diving Championships Call-Up Lists Posted

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) has posted the call-up lists for qualifiers to the 2015 High School State Championship meets.

Swimmers in Texas qualify to the state meet by winning one of 8 geographically-based regional championship meets, with the next 8-fastest from those regional championship meets earning a spot as well. There are no time standards specifically for the meet.

This means that there are two separate state lists: one for automatic qualifiers, and one for call-up swimmers.

Editor’s Note: Texas expanded to a 6th classification in most sports this season, so the meet for the “biggest schools” is now the 6A meet, while smaller schools go to the 5A and under meet. When referring to historical placings, we trace the 6A lineage back to the old 5A meet, and the 5A lineage back through the old 4A and under meet.

In Girls’ 6A, the meet should once again be a slugfest between two schools who all come out of the same, brutal Region 4 meet: Austin Westlake High School and Kingwood High School (with another probable top 10 team, The Woodlands High School, also in that same region). This is a region that spans a huge geographical area from Austin to Houston.

The best teams from the Dallas/Fort Worth area at last year’s state meet, Southlake Carroll and Keller High School, both appear to have lost too many swimmers to graduation to contend this season, though the emergence of Audrey McMurry (top seed in the 200 IM) this season gives Keller a chance.

With two young teams led by Dakota Luther and Victoria Edwards (Westlake); and Ashley Pollok and Lexie Lupton (Kingwood), respectively, this meet could very well come down to the last relay, where the teams enter with two of the top three seeds. Kingwood won that relay at teh regional meet.

On the boys’ side, expect the recently-dominant Southlake Carroll swimmers to take another title even after the graduation of current Texas freshman Jonathan Roberts. Led by senior Carson Klein, breakout freshman Jack LeVant, and one of the state’s best diving squads, the Dragons look well on their way to a 5th-straight Texas team title.

• Conference 5A Automatic Qualifiers
• Conference 5A Call-ups

In the 5A (smaller schools) meet, Alamo Heights returns enough points that they are the favorites to defend their state title graduating just Lauren Cuda from last year’s team. But there’s some other big contenders.

Houston’s Stratford High School exploded with 8 regional event titles, and even managed to get the maximum two divers through to the state championship meet – a huge victory scoring-wise. Frisco didn’t graduate much from last year’s runner-up team.

There’s also at least two teams ripe to play spoiler – Vandegrift High School, and Propser High School. Vandergrift enters the meet with the top-seeded 200 free relay by a full second, and the top-seeded 400 free relay by three seconds.

Propser, meanwhile, has the best swimmer at this meet to their credit: senior Destiny Nelson. She’s a top seed and prohibitive favorite in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. While her team was only 12th at last year’s meet, this year she’s supported by an impressive group of freshman that includes Hope Jestes and Gabrielle Kopenski – the top seed in the girls’ 200 free and 500 free. The team will take home a lot of event titles, but their downfall will be no 400 free relay entered in the meet: a hole that will be hard to overcome.