In the biggest meets, the best swimmers always step up.
That was the story for Los Fresnos during Saturday’s Region VIII-6A meet at Margaret M. Clark Aquatic Center in Brownsville.
All school year, the Falcons have nurtured their goal of advancing a relay to the UIL state meet. They made it happen in two relays Saturday and set a pool record in the process.
At the regional meet, the top two boys and girls swimmers in individual events and relays qualify for state along with the top three divers. The state meet is scheduled Feb. 16-17 in Austin.
The Los Fresnos boys won the 400 freestyle relay, the last event of the meet, with a pool-record time of 3 minutes, 14.71 seconds. Swimming on the relay for the Falcons were Danny Escamilla, Will McKinney, Carlos Paredes and Luis Osuna.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the Falcons finished eight seconds ahead of runner-up PSJA Southwest (3:22.71).
Those same four Los Fresnos swimmers took second place in the 200 freestyle relay behind McAllen High to earn a trip to state as well.¬
“Ever since I started swimming, it’s always been a goal to go to state, and I did it three times in the meet today, so it means the world to me,” said Paredes, a senior. “It means everything since the time I first jumped into the pool.
“It’s something I couldn’t have done without the help of Luis, Will or Danny,” Paredes added. “It’s a feeling I really can’t explain because it’s so exhilarating. Being able to break the pool record was just something amazing and something I would have never thought we would be able to do. We couldn’t do it individually, we had to do it all together.”
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