Lubbock High's Gunnar Hansen, Jones Lambert among top qualifiers for swimming state meet
The Class 5A swimming and diving state meet is set to begin Friday at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin.
The Lubbock High boys and girls teams each won the Region I meet titles Feb. 10. The Westerners have several state qualifiers in seeding position to come away with a medal. Here's a look at the top contenders from the city.
UIL CLASS 5A SWIMMING, DIVING STATE MEET
Jones Lambert, Lubbock High
Lambert won the region title in the 200-yard freestyle in near-record time. He swam in 1 minute, 38.88 seconds, short of his pool-record 1:38.25 in 2023. He has the best seeding time in the event and the second-best in the 500 freestyle (4:33.72). Lambert also anchored the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays that won region titles and are seeded third and fourth, respectively.
Gunnar Hansen, Lubbock High
Hansen is also on the boys 200 medley relay and has the top qualifying time in the 100 breaststroke. He won the region title in 56.63 seconds. He finished second in the 200 individual medley in 1:57.57, which is eighth-best entering state. The 200 freestyle relay he anchored to a region championship is seeded 10th (1:29.60).
Emery Fox, Lubbock High
Fox won individual region titles in the 200 IM (2:05.79) and 500 freestyle (5:07.69). That's the fourth- and seventh-best seeding times. The 400 freestyle and 200 medley relays Fox was on also won at regionals. Those are seeded fourth (3:36.54) and seventh (1:51.32).
Tyler Jackson, Coronado
Jackson is seeded fourth in the 200 IM, in which he finished in 1:55.88 to win the region.
Scarlett McCloud, Lubbock High
McCloud won the 100 and 200 freestyles at regionals in 51.90 and 1:53.65, respectively. She has the fourth- and fifth-best seeding times entering state. She's also on the 400 and 200 freestyle relays. The 200 freestyle relay is seeded fifth (1:40.10).
Sarah Poe, Lubbock High
The freshman won the 100 breaststroke at region in 1:06.55, the fourth-seeded time for state. She also qualified in the 200 IM (2:14.43).
Kyler Beights, Lubbock-Cooper
Beights swam the 500 freestyle in 4:41.17 to enter state with the fifth-seeded time. He also qualified in the 200 freestyle and sits in the sixth seed (1:42.36).
LUBBOCK-AREA STATE QUALIFIERS
Amrita Ramesh, Lubbock High; Jacob Byars, Lubbock High; Alexandria Leppert, Coronado; Sarah MacLachlan, Lubbock-Cooper; Claire Burk, Lubbock High; Keoni Spence, Lubbock High; Teaguen King, Coronado; Luke Juels, Lubbock-Cooper; James "Jimmy" Hendrix, Lubbock High; Abigail Anderson, Lubbock High; Brylee Watkins, Coronado; Pacyn Osburn, Lubbock High.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock-area swimming state meet qualifiers 2024
