As it stands, Jesuit Swimming and Diving has had an incredible season. After blowing out Bishop Lynch by over one hundred points, the team followed that up with dominant wins over Coppell and Highland Park.
Prior to this meet, they obtained a 99-84 comeback win over Saint Marks, the reigning Southwest Preparatory Conference Champs. Following that, it came time for midseason invitationals. The Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (TISCA) sponsors many of his midseason meets.
These present an opportunity for swimmers to test their training, along with giving coaches to evaluate their teams standing in high competition prior to championship season. Jesuit attended the North Zone edition of this meet, held November 22nd-23rd at Lewisville ISD’s Westside Aquatic Center. Jesuit finished third at the meet, scoring 329.5 points. They finished behind Lewisville Flower Mound and Coppell.
Preliminaries
Due to the caliber of the program, most of the Rangers just focused on getting into the “A” or “B” finals, putting them in scoring positions. This was accomplished successfully by the entire team. Junior Sebastian Suwanda would get in to the “A” finals of the 200 and 500 free, entering as the fourth seed in both events. The 200 Medley Relay of Flyn Hughes, Oliver Miller, Drew Shippey, and Jackson Addison-Jordan finished twelfth in the prelims, earning a spot in the B final. Along with the 200 Medley Relay, Hughes would qualify 10th in the 100 fly and 16th in the 100 backstroke. Shippey would qualify 14th in the 200 IM and 9th in the 100 fly. Sam Kennington qualified for the “A” final in both the 50 free and 100 free in 2nd and 8th, respectively. Luke Lary would qualify 6th in the 50 free and 3rd in the 100 fly. Sophomore JP McCosker qualified 13th in the 500 freestyle, putting him in the “B” alongside fellow sophomore Grant Wilton. Wilton, along with qualifying 12th in the 500 free, just missed a scoring qualification with a 20th place finish in the 100 breast. Jonah Ruhl qualified 1st in the 200IM and 2nd in the 200 Free.
“TISCA was a well fought meet that portrays the outcome of this season.” -Sam Kennington’ 26
Ruhl, Suwanda, Lary, and Kennington combined for a time of 1:27.29 in the prelims of the 200-freestyle relay. This was good enough for 2nd, putting them behind Lewisville Flower Mound heading into the finals. The same quartet once again qualified second in the 400-freestyle relay, combining for a time of 3:13.94 to finish behind Coppell.
Finals
After a team trip to Cava, the Rangers returned to the WAC the next day for finals. The 200 Medley Relay started the meet off for the Rangers with a 11th place finish, touching the wall at a time of 1:42.58. They were out touched by Hurst Bell, who finished with a time of 1:42.10. Jesuit had one swimmer in scoring position in the 200 free, junior Sebastian Suwanda. He finished sixth with a time of 1:47.47, losing to Coppell’s Dylan Moreno by one one-hundredth of a second.
Jesuit picked up a slew of top 3 finishes in the next few events. Sophomore Jonah Ruhl won the 200IM, finishing with a time of 1:52.97. Drew Shippey took fifteenth, touching the wall at a 2:04.99. The 50 free resulted in two top 5 swims. Sam Kennington tied with Coppell’s Abinav Agnihotri for second, finishing with a personal best of 21.32. Fellow junior Luke Lary touched the wall in fourth place, finishing with a time of 21.60. The Rangers would have three scorers in the next event, the 100 fly. Luke Lary finished second in a personal best of 50.72. Drew Shippey and Flynn Hughes also scored, finishing eleventh and thirteenth, respectively. In the 100 free, Ruhl took fourth with a time of 46.84, while Kennington took eighth with a time of 48.11.
Like the 100 fly, Jesuit had three scorers in the 500 freestyle. Sebastian Suwanda finished fourth with a time of 4:48.29, nearly running down Garland Sache’s Augustus Friedel. Grant Wilton won the B final with a time of 5:02.62, while fellow sophomore JP McCosker took sixth (14th overall) with a time of 5:08.78. Following the long-distance event, Jesuit took second in the 200 free relay. The team of Ruhl, Kennington, Suwanda, and Lary finished with a time of 1:26.21. The B Relay also finialed, as the team of Hughes, Luke Wiley, Michael Hasenfratz, and Jackon Addison-Jordan touched the wall at a time of 1:32.90.
The next two events, the 100 back and 100 breast, are by far the team weakest events. Flynn Hughes scored for the Rangers in the 100 back, finishing sixteenth with a time of 57.47. While Jesuit had no scorers in the 100 breast, they had two “C” finalists: Grant Wilton at a 1:03.79 and Oliver Miller at a 1:05.24. The final event of the meet, the 400 free relay, proved the lethalness of the Rangers’ relays. The team of Lary, Kennington, Suwanda, and Ruhl finished second with a time of 3:11.24. Ruhl had an incredible anchor leg, splitting a 45.97.
Looking Ahead
Jesuit is not about halfway through the season. On December 3rd the Rangers take on Greenhill, Cistercian, and Parish at the Gull. Following that, they’ll welcome Alumni back for the Second Annual Alumni Meet on December 20th. The regular season will conclude with the Jesuit Invitational, which is held at the Gull on January 10th-11th. The meet will feature Jesuit, Ursuline Academy, Saint Stephens, Frisco Wakeland, and Strake Jesuit.
