By Gene Schallenberg
Matthew Bitara already started making plans for Austin for the state swimming meet in nearly two weeks, but now he’ll have some company.
Monday morning, fellow Huntsville freshman Sierra Wagner received some good news when she was listed as a call-up in two events and will be joining Bitara at the state meet.
Wagner, who finished third in the girls 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.52 and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:00.60 at the Class 4A Region V meet on Saturday at Magnolia, had pinned her hopes on advancing to state on being named a call-up selection.
In each event, individuals who win their region championships automatically qualify for the state meet. The eight next-best times from around the state receive call-ups.
“We’re all excited. They knew before they got to school today,” head coach Karol K. Smith said Monday afternoon. “We’ve been looking at the (Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association) Web site waiting to see if some of our other swimmers had made it in.
“I think it also goes to show how tough our region is. We have swimmers who finished either third or fourth and still had some of the best times in the state.”
Bitara already knew that he was going to the state meet after winning the region championship in the 100-yard backstroke, but he also found out that he was a call-up for the 200-yard individual medley.
“The good thing is that (Bitara and Wagner) can both do this together,” Smith said. “They’ll have each other as workout partners and not be alone.”
Wagner will bring the 10th best time in the 100 backstroke and the 12th best time in the 200 freestyle.
Bitara has the fifth-best time in the 100 backstroke and the seventh-best time in the 200 individual medley.
Preliminaries for the Hornets and Lady Hornets will take place at the Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin at 10 a.m. on Feb. 26. Each event will have two heats with the top eight times advancing to the finals on Feb. 27.
Smith also had hopes of Colson Slaven and her boys 400-yard freestyle relay team making it to state as well, but they fell just short of the mark.
