Head Coach: Paden Fontenot | jacob.fontenot@lcisd.org | @GRHSAquatics
Parent Representative: aquatics@grhsabc.com
Swimming and Diving News
Swim/Dive – 5A and Under Invite
The swim and dive team competed in the 5A and under Fort Bend invite this weekend. This meet was a chance for some new contributors to contribute and they definitely took the opportunity. Mark Kvitna broke the 100 fly freshmen record with a 59.60, Kathryn Voelkel got 8th in the 500 free with a 5:52.86, Jacob Liang got 8th In the 500 free with a 5:37.44. Swim and Dive travel to Conroe this weekend to compete in the 2nd fastest meet of the entire swim season.
GR Wins LCISD Swim/Dive Invite
The boys swim and dive team defended their 2014 LCISD invite championship this weekend. They beat the 2014 state championship Kingwood park and the 3rd place at last years state championship the in district team from Stratford. Wins by Mark Kvinta, David Kvinta, Kyle Krush , and Jacob Liang in the 200 medley relay and finishing the meet with a must win 400 free relay team of Aaron O’reilly, Kyle Krush, David Kvinta, and Camp Priest won and set a new pool record! The Girls team took second overall to the state runner up last year Stratford. Kate Hartman, Elizabeth Markee, Leann Anderson, and Charlotte Johanson won the 200 free relay. Individual winners included David Kvinta 200 IM, Charlotte Johanson in the 50 and 100 freestlye, Kate Hartman in the 100 butterfly (NEW SCHOOL RECORD), and Camp Priest in the 50 and 100 freestyles. GRHS will travel to the 5A and under invite at Fort Bend this weekend!
The Diving Team competed at home last Friday at the LCISD Swimming and Diving Invitational. In girls 1 meter diving, senior Rachel Reed took second place, freshman Gracie Liang took third place, and junior Stella Cunningham took twelfth place. In boys 1 meter diving, Dominic Daugherty took second place. All George Ranch Divers contributed valuable points to the overall Longhorn Swimming and Diving Team Wins. Way to go Longhorn Divers!!
Longhorn Diving Results
GRHS Divers competed at the LCISD Quad meet on Tuesday. Senior Rachel Reed took first place in girl’s 1 meter diving, smashing the George Ranch Girl’s record for a 1 meter 6 dive meet. Freshman Graciella Liang took third place and junior Stella Cunningham took 7th place, scoring points for the Girls’ Longhorn Swimming and Diving Team.
Freshman diver Dominic Daugherty took first place in the Boys’ 1 meter diving competition at his first diving meet of the season. Dominic scored valuable points for the Boys’ Longhorn Swimming and Diving Team. Way to go Longhorn Divers!
Longhorn Swim Results
On Saturday the Longhorn swim team went to the Tomball Kickoff swim meet. The Girls team won the 200 medley relay ( Leann Anderson, Gemini Chancoco, Kate Hartman, and Charlotte Johansen) and the 200 freestyle relay (Elizabeth Markee, Leann Anderson, Kate Hartman, Charlotte Johansen) and Kathryn Voelkel won the 500 freestyle running down the girl next to her on the last 50 yards! The Boys placed 1st overall beating the defending 5A overall state champions Kingwood park! The boys won the 200 Medley Relay (Mark Kvinta ,Camp Priest, Kyle Krush, Jacob Gamble) and the 200 Free relay (Camp priest, Kyle Crush, Jacob Gamble, and Jacob Liang) The swim and dive team will compete against Terry, Foster, and Lamar on Tuesday. so wish them luck!
Rewards 365 Fundraiser for Athletes
George Ranch High School, Reading Jr. High School and Polly Ryon Middle School have partnered with Simply Rewards national fundraising company to do a maroon track fundraising campaign during the month of September. This program is designed to raise immediate funds through a 4- week fundraiser called Rewards 365. All Longhorn Nation students are asked to download the Rewards 365 mobile app, create an account using their assigned Group ID number, and then input email addresses of family, friends, and co-workers. If they did not receive one, use Athletics ID#RW1233X2328.
Emails are then sent to your contacts with a personalized request from your child, requesting a donation to the athletics program. Each donor also receives a membership to the Longhorn Nation Rewards website, as well as, $50 added to their Rewards travel account.
Each student has a goal of 30 email addresses to input and can share their donation request via text and social media. Even though this is a campus-wide fundraiser, the athletics department will directly benefit from this program. Please support your student by making sure they have joined a group and by helping them with collecting email addresses. Thank you for your support.
Please click the following link for the Athletics 365 Parent Instructions.
Aquatics – State Meet Results
Last weekend the GRHS swim team headed to Austin to compete in the 5A state championships. Blake Grote, David Kvitna, Evan Murray, and Robby Valdez brought home the Bronze Medal in the 200 medley relay with a new school record of 1:36.95! This is the first state medal in swimming or diving in school history!!! It was also the 17th fasted time EVER posted in the history of the 5A state meet!!! Blake Grote, David Kvitna, Evan Murray, and Robby Valdez placed 7th in the 200 freestyle relay with the 49th fastest time ever at the state meet! David Kvitna placed 13th in the 200 IM and 15th in the 100 breaststroke. Blake Grote took 6th in the 100 backstroke with the 35th fastest time ever in that event!! Robby Valdez broke the boys’ 100 freestyle school record of 49.31 leading off the 400 freestyle relay of Valdez, Evan Murray, Camp Priest, and Andrew Greene which broke their school record with3:17. At finals the relay team of Aaron Oreilly, Evan Murray, Camp Priest, and Andrew Greene took 13th. BOYS FINISHED 8TH out of 53 HIGH SCHOOLS who qualified swimmers to the state meet!
The girls had a great weekend as well. Emily DeRouen, Charlotte Johanson, Riley Murray, and Shelby Sparacino got 12th in the 400 freestyle relay and broke their school record with a3:43.5. Shelby Sparacino got 13th place in the 100 backstroke and 14th in the 200 freestyle. Sparacino also broke the 50 free school record (24.67) leading off the 6th place 200 freestyle relay with teammates Kate Hartman, Charlotte Johanson, and Riley Murray – this was the 38th fastest swim EVER at the STATE MEET! The girls finished 15th out of 55 teams at the state meet.
Congrats to all of our swimmers on a great season!
THIS WEEKEND: State Aquatics Championship
Emily DeRouen, Andrew Greene, Blake Grote, Kate Hartman, Charlotte Johansen, Kyle Krush, David Kvinta, Mark Kvinta, Evan Murray, Riley Murray, Aaron O’Reilly, Camp Priest, Carly Thome, Shelby Sparacino and Robby Valdez will all be traveling to Austin to compete at the 5A state championships this weekend.
On the girls side: The 200 Freestyle relay is seeded 5th, and the 400 freestyle is seeded 13th. Shelby Sparacino will compete individually in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, as well as contribute to the relays.
On the boys side: The 200 Medley relay is seeded 4th; the 200 freestyle is seeded 5th; and the 400 freestyle is seeded 8th. Seniors Evan Murray and Robby Valdez both gave up an individual event at the regional meets to get all 3 relays to the state meet. GRHS is only 1 of 4 teams to get all 3 relays to the state meet! David Kvitna will also individually compete in the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke. Blake Grote will individually compete in the100 backstroke. Both boys will be contributing on relays as well.
Please wish these athletes good luck this weekend as we wrap up a long 7-month season!
Aquatics – Region Results
What an incredible weekend for George Ranch Swimming and Diving! GRHS competed in the two-day prelims and finals Regional 7 swim meet. Prelims are used to determine the top 8 swimmers in each event, and those 8 swimmers and relays compete for the Regional championship and an automatic birth in the 5A state championship. Of our 38 swims and 2 divers, we put 36 swims and 2 divers into the top 8!! We had two swimmers win events and get automatic bids to the state championship. Shelby Sparacino won the 200 freestyle in 1:54.90, dropping 5 seconds from her prelims time!! David Kvitna also qualified by winning the 200 IM and setting a new school record of 201.26 and dropping 8 seconds from his Friday prelims time! We also had 3 more individual athletes get a State meet birth based on their times in finals: Shelby Sparacino 1:00.11 and Blake Grote 52.20 (new school record) qualified in the 100 backstroke, and David Kvitna 100.77 (school record) in the 100 breaststroke! Also, for the first time in school history, we are taking both boys’ and girls’ relays to the same state meet! The relay team of Shelby Sparacino, Kate Hartman, Charlotte Johanson, and Riley Murray advance in the 200 freestyle with a school record of 139.71! Emily DeRouen, Charlotte Johanson, Riley Murray, and Shelby Sparacino advance in the 400 freestyle relay with a school record of 344.25. On the boys’ side, all 3 relays will advance to the state meet! Blake Grote, David Kvitina, Evan Murray and Robbie Valdez advance in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays! Andrew Greene, Camp Priest, Evan Murray and Robbie Valdez advance in the 400 freestyle relay with a school record of 3.18.17! Aaron O’Reilly, Kyle Krush, Mark Kvitina, and Carly Thome all helped contribute to the relays during prelims, and allowed for fresh legs for Saturday’s relays! We also broke 3 more school records this weekend that just missed getting called up to swim at state. Riley Murray went 24.75 in the 50 freestyle and 54.2 in the 100 freestyle breaking her own records she set just 24 hours earlier. Blake Grote broke the 100 fly record with a 54.50! It’s very clear that Coach Baker’s work in the weight room has paid off! We will be selling state bound shirts this week. See Coach Zerber in room 2438 to order; orders due end of day on Tuesday!
Aquatics – District Meet Results
Last Saturday, the swim team completed in the district swimming meet. The girls finished 2nd behind Stratford, which got 2nd place at the 2014 state meet. Shelby Sparacino won the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke,
and Riley Murray won the 100 freestyle. They joined Emily DeRouen and Charlotte Johansen to crush the other 6 teams at the meet and take the 200 freestyle relay title. Sparacino and senior Carly Thome teamed up with freshmen Gemini Chancoco and Kate Hartman to get 2nd in the medley relay. Hartman, Johansen, DeRouen and Murray got 2nd in the 400 freestyle relay as well. Individual 2nd place finishers were Hartman, 100 fly; DeRouen, 200 IM; and Sarah Kinzler in the 500 freestyle.
The boys also got 2nd in districts to a Stratford team that will make a run at a possible state title. Blake Grote, David Kvitna, Evan Murray, and Robbie Valdez got 2nd in the 200 medley and freestyle relays. Camp Priest, Kyle Crush, Andrew Green and Aaron O’Rielly got 2nd in the 400 freestyle relay. Kvitna won the 200 IM, and Blake Grote defended his 100 backstroke title. Blake also got 2nd in the 100 fly.
GHRS swim and dive will take 20 qualifying athletes to the regional meet this weekend. This district meet was the 2nd fastest 5A meet in the state of Texas, and Coach Zerber could not be more proud of how the team has come together and accepted the challenge to get faster. Many swimmers, including relays, are poised to make a run at the state championships. Good luck at Regionals!!
Aquatics – Diving District Meet Results
George Ranch divers traveled to Spring Branch Natatorium on Friday night for their district meet. Junior Rachel Reed took the bronze medal and sophomore Paige Holstein placed 6th in girls 1-meter diving. Both girls qualified for the regional meet to be held in Victoria next Saturday. Great job, Longhorn divers!