On October 6, 2012, Jesuit Swimming hosted the Ranger Relays at the LISD Aquatic Center. Fourteen teams from schools all across the metropolis participated, including Allen, Flower Mound, Plano, Highland Park, McKinney, and Southlake Carroll.
The Ranger Relays is an annual swim meet consisting of solely relays and no individual events. Relays vary from the 200-yard freestyle relay to 4X100-yard individual medley relay. Ranger Relays is a very different and exciting meet because it consists of races in which many swimmers have never participated. Co-Captain of the swim team, Nick Wageman ’13 elaborated on this idea saying, “Ranger Relays is a very unique meet because you get to swim a line-up that you’ve probably never swam before.”
At the end of the meet, Southlake Carroll was in the lead with Allen and Jesuit following close behind. But then came a unique part of the Ranger Relays, commonly referred to as the “Shootout.”
Seven swimmers, four guys and three girls, were chosen to represent each of the top eight schools.
First, the first male swimmer from each team raced a 50-yard freestyle. Whichever team’s swimmer finished last was then knocked out of the competition. This process continued, rotating girl and boy swimmers, until it was down to 2 schools standing, which were Jesuit and Southlake Carroll.
Then, the last two swimmers went head-to-head to see which school wins the Ranger Relays. Mead Robuck ’14 raced in the final race for Jesuit, but barely came up short and gave Jesuit second place in the 2012 Ranger Relays. Eric Futscher ’13, the other Co-Captain, remarked on the performance of Jesuit as a team saying, “The Jesuit swimmers’ performance was outstanding, and included great leadership and support.”
With their season just beginning, the Jesuit Swim Team shows great promise and determination. Many talented swimmers will have the ability to showcase their abilities at the many remaining meets this year. For dates and times of those meets, click here.
