This past weekend, our Belton Tigers traveled up to Texarkana to compete at their first championship-style meet of the season! This meant that on Day 1, the swimmers competed in a Preliminary session, in which the top 16 in each event would advance to swim in the Finals session on Day 2. Therefore, Belton swam on Friday to make it to Saturday. 11 out of the 12 swimmers that traveled to the meet were successful in doing just that! Belton saw a great number of swims in the B-final (9th through 16th) and the A-final (1st-8th).

Out of the 16 Mens' teams in attendance, Belton was the 12th-ranked team in terms of numbers, and finished 9th overall. Even more impressive, out of the 14 Womens' teams in attendance, Belton was the 10th-ranked team in size, and finished 3rd overall! There are few better indicators of teams overall talent than the numbers above, and that talent was on full-display over the course of Friday and Saturday! Below are the highlights from the Finals session on Saturday:

-Girls' 200 Free:
Lili Nelson finished 2nd overall with a 2:02.97
Ema Whitzel finished 8th overall with a 2:13.17

-Boys' 200 Free:
Addison Richardson finished 7th overall with a 1:57.13

-Girls' 200 IM:
Kirra Martin finished 4th overall with a 2:26.81
Sophia Detert finished 9th overall with a 2:43.18

-Boys' 200 IM:
Micah Rodriguez finished 16th overall with a 2:36.20

-Girls' 50 Free:
Zee Gingerich finished 9th overall with a 27.30

-Girls' 100 Fly:
Natalia Kulisz finished 9th overall with a 1:15.37

-Girls' 100 Free:
Zee Gingerich finished 3rd overall with a 58.78
Ema Whitzel finished 7th overall with a 1:01.31

-Boys' 100 Free:
Raef Airhart finished 9th overall with a 51.86 (New Best!)

-Girls' 500 Free:
Lili Nelson finished 1st with at 5:24.50
Sophia Detert finished 10th with a 6:14.23

-Boys' 500 Free:
Addison Richardson finished 3rd with a 5:12.26
Wyatt Nelson finished 10th with a 5:37.94

-Girls' 200 Freelay (Nelson, Gingerich, Whitzel, Martin) finished 2nd overall with a 1:48.94

-Boys' 200 Freelay (Richardson, Nelson, Rodriguez, Airhart) finished 11th with a 1:44.22

-Girls' 100 Back:
Kirra Martin finished 4th overall with a 1:05.09
Natalia Kulisz finished 12th overall with a 1:12.97

-Boys' 100 Back:
Raef Airhart finished 6th overall with a 1:00.33

-Girls' 400 Freelay (Nelson, Gingerich, Martin, Whitzel) finished 3rdwith a 3:57.22

-Boys' 400 Freelay (Richardson, Nelson, Rodriguez, Airhart) finished 12th with a 3:56.47

SCORES:

WOMEN:
1. Richardson Pearce 629
2. Nacogdoches High School 376
3. BELTON HIGH SCHOOL 211
4. Tyler Grace Community 178
5. Richardson High School 172
6. Lake Highlands High School 119
7. Texas High School 104
8. Tyler Legacy High School 94
9. Longview High School 80
10. New Tech High School 67
11. Whitehouse High School 65
12. Hallsville High School 46
13. Port Neches-Groves High School 25
14. Detroit High School 2

MEN:
1. Texas High School 499
2. Richardson Pearce 436
3. Nacogdoches High School 311
4. Tyler Legacy High School 166
5. Whitehouse High School 157
6. Richardson High School 143
7. Longview High School 138
8. Lake Highlands High School 103
9. BELTON HIGH SCHOOL 80
10. Lufkin High School 54
11. Tyler Grace Community 38
12. Tyler High School 29
12. New Tech High School 29
14. Longview Christian School 19
15. Port Neches-Groves High School 14
16. Gilmer High School 7