Kingwood Mustang swimmers (from left) Lauren Day, Leah Pfitzer, Madeline Hazle and Lauren Day captured the team’s freshman record in the 200 yard medley relay at a meet against Klein High School on Jan. 21. Photo by John Meara.

The Kingwood High School swimmers and divers saluted their seniors at the final home meet of the season with a win over Klein High School on Jan. 21. The Mustangs remain undefeated in dual meet competition as they begin their annual trek to the state championships in Austin at the end of February.

The meet began with a record breaking performance in lane one. The freshman girls broke the 200 yard medley relay record – the third freshman relay record to fall this season. Lauren and Amanda Day along with Madeline Hazle and Leah Pfitzer swam a time of 1:52.40 – a half second lower than the previous mark.

Meanwhile in lane four, the Kingwood A team of Jillian Vitarius, Michelle Gean, Sydney Conroy and Jamie Friderichs edged out Klein to win the medley relay.  The boys were also first in the 200 yard medley relay with three seniors: Ryan Glander, Joseph Bergmeister and Steve Ciliske joined by sophomore Jordan Jones.

The 200 yard freestyle relays were equally as competitive. In the girls race, Klein just out-touched Kingwood to win by two tenths of a second. The boys turned the tables to win the relay by the same fraction of a second with the team of Jones, Bergmeister, Patrick Pash and Matt Barber in a come-from-behind finish.

Kingwood easily won the 400 yard freestyle relays. Vitarius, Hazle, Gean and Katheryn Nolen beat the Klein girls by a full six seconds. Will Oswald, Ryan Glander, Pash and Barber out distanced the Klein boys by almost four seconds.

The most notable individual performances were in the 100 yard butterfly. Hazle won the event and in the process broke the freshman record which had stood since 1985 with a time of 58.05. Barber left the rest of the field in his wake as he won the butterfly in 50.21 - well under All-America time. He also won the 200 yard freestyle with Oswald finishing a close second. Oswald
took his first in the 500 yard freestyle.

Winning multiple events for the Mustang girls were: Gean in the 100 yard freestyle and 100 yard breaststroke; and Vitarius in the 200 yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke. Single event winners were: Lisa Swank in the 50 yard freestyle; Malaney Peete in the girls’ one meter diving and Nolen in the 500 yard freestyle.

The Glander brothers both won an individual event: Ryan in the 100 yard backstroke and Mitch in the 200 yard individual medley. Jones warmed up with a second place finish in the backstroke race and jumped right back in the pool to win the next event: the 100 yard breaststroke.

Seniors recognized at a pre-meet ceremony were: team managers Brooke Bailey and Craig Masterson; diver Ethan Doyle; swimmers Matt Barber, Joseph Bergmeister, Steve Ciliske, Matthew Coppola, Aaron Foreman, Michelle Gean, Ryan Glander, Luke Kerschbaum, Rachel Martin, Caleb Reidlinger, Evan Rowan and Laura Spurlock.

Next up for the Mustangs is Districts on Thurs., Feb. 4 for diving and Fri., Feb. 5 for swimming. Both start at noon at Atascocita High School. For complete meet results, visit: www.humbleisd.net/khsswim