At the end of January, the Concordia Boys and Girls Swim teams competed in the TAPPS Division I Region 3 Swim Meet at the University of Houston against other schools from SE Texas. At the meet, the top performers of each of the 12 races advanced to the TAPPS 6A State Championships at the Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio on Monday, Feb. 12.
Individually, there were eight swimmers (four girls and four boys) who qualified for State. There were some amazing race wins, personal bests, and two school records broken.
Listed below is a breakdown of the Crusaders who are advancing to State, how they fared at Regionals, and their seeding in their event(s) for State.
Girls Team Regional Results:
Grace Bourque ’24, Ella Lee ’27, Emerson Swanner ’24, and Kat Tilley ’26 are the swimmers for two relays that qualified for State:
- 200 Free Relay – finished in 1st place with a time of 1:41.09 (new school record) and is seeded 3rd at State.
- 400 Free Relay – finished in 1st place with a time of 3:43.60 and is seeded 2nd at State.
Kat Tilley ’26:
- 50 Free – finished in 1st place with a time of 24.19 and is seeded 1st at State.
- 100 Free – finished in 1st place with a time of 53.28 and is seeded 2nd at State.
- *In all four of her events at Regionals, she finished 1st and earned the maximum points possible.
Ella Lee ’27:
- 200 Individual Medley – finished in 1st place with a time of 2:10.09 (new school record) and is seeded 2nd at State.
- 100 Breast – finished in 1st place with a time of 1:06.74 (breaking her previously set new school record by almost 3 more seconds) and is seeded 2nd at State.
- *In all four of her events at Regionals, she finished 1st and earned the maximum points possible.
Grace Bourque ’24:
- 500 Free – finished in 2nd place with a time of 5:17.77 and is seeded 3rd at State.
- 200 Free – finished in 3rd place with a time of 2:01.96 and is seeded 6th at State.
Emerson Swanner ’24:
- 100 Free – finished in 3rd place with a time of 56.97 and is seeded 6th at State.
- 100 Back – finished in 3rd place with a time of 1:05.17 and is seeded 7th at State.
Boys Team Regional Results:
Ben Witt ’24, Major Meyer ’25, Sam Parikh ’25, and Brendan Trittipo ’26 qualified for the Boys 200 Free Relay which finished in 2nd place with a time of 1:40.67 and is seeded 6th at State.
Brendan Trittipo ’26:
- 200 Free – finished in 3rd place with a time of 1:59.33 and is seeded 6th at State.
- 100 Fly – finished in 4th place with a time of 58.46 and is seeded 7th at State.
Ben Witt ’24:
- 100 Free – finished in 5th place with a time of 55.27 and is seeded 10th at State.
- 50 Free – finished in 6th place with a time of 24.13 and is seeded 13th at State.
Major Meyer ’25:
- 100 Back – finished in 2nd place with a time of 1:06.44 and is seeded 12th at State.
- 100 Free – finished in 7th place with a time of 57.37 and is the first alternate should any of the 16 swimmers be unable to swim.
---
Seeding from all three of the regional meets determines swimmer heat and lane placement with the top two fastest seeds swimming out of the middle of the pool in lanes 4 and 5 in the second heat. In each individual event, there are 16 entries with two heats of 8 swimmers each as well as two alternates. For each of the three relay events, the number of teams vary based on time minimum requirements.
In total, there are 12 events with nine of them as individual races and three as relays. The events vary based on swim stroke discipline and length. The fastest race is the 50 meter freestyle and the longest event being the 500 meter freestyle, which is 20 laps in a 25 meter pool.
Points are awarded for every finisher with 20 points being awarded to 1st place for an individual event down to 1 point for 16th place. In relays, points are doubled with the winning team earning 40 points.
Swimmers are only allowed to compete in a total of four events at both Regionals and State. All four of our girl swimmers that qualified for State will be swimming in four events.
This year, the girls qualified for two relays (200 Free and 400 Free) while the boys qualified for the 200 Free Relay. The girls have entries in 7/9 individual events and 2/3 relays for a total of 75% of the events. The boys have entries in 5/9 individual events and 1/3 relays for a total of half of the 12 events.
Head Swim Coach Jackie Roszak had this to share ahead of the State meet: “I am very excited for State, there are going to be a lot of exciting races and the team is in a good position for multiple podium finishes. I am so proud of all the swimmers’ hard work and dedication this season.”
---
In 2021, the Lady Crusaders finished 4th in State as a team with only five swimmers who qualified for the meet. Two of those swimmers are on the team this year in seniors Grace Bourque and Emerson Swanner. Last season in 2023, the Girls team finished in 6th place out of 15 teams with 118 points. Kat Tilley ’26 touched the wall first in both of her individual events as only a freshman, winning the 50 Free and 100 Free. This year, Tilley hopes to have podium finishes in both those events again as she comes into the State meet seeded 1st in the 50 Free and 2nd in the 100 Free.
Newcomer freshman Ella Lee ‘27 has truly made her mark in the pool this year for the Crusaders as she has broken two individual school records and was a part of the 200 Free Relay that set a new school record at Regionals. She swam well at Regionals and earned a top-2 seed in both of her individual races.
Seniors Bourque and Swanner both want to end their high school careers on the podium as they qualified for both of their individual events and are seasoned veterans on the relays.
The last time the Boys Team had a podium team finish was in 2018 when they finished 3rd at State. In 2023, the Crusaders finished 8th at State but have welcomed Brendan Trittipo ’26 who qualified for State in both of his individual events (100 Fly and 200 Free) and as a member of the 200 Free Relay. Trittipo has been a solid addition as the team graduated Elijah Brown ’23 last year who is now a collegiate swimmer and swam in four events in 2023.
Ben Witt ’24 is ready for State this year as he qualified in the same individual events as last year where he placed 13th in the 50 Free but did not score in the 100 Free. He will look to better both of those results this year as he is seeded 10th in the 100 Free and 13th in the 50 Free.
Major Meyer ’25 qualified for the second time as an individual swimmer and will be swimming the 100 Back again. In 2023, Meyer finished in 13th place and is seeded just higher than that this year in 12th.
The Crusaders had hopes of having two swimmers in the 100 Back with Sam Parikh joining Meyer but a challenging upper body injury limited Parikh in his junior campaign. Last year, Parikh finished 11th in both the 100 Back and 100 Butterfly at State. Thankfully he can still swim as part of the Boys 200 Free Relay this year.
Good luck Crusader Swimmers!
The races begin at 10:15 am on Monday, Feb. 12th. To watch the State meet, visit: