Eleven Westlake swimmers will compete Feb. 21-22 at the UT Lee and Joe Jamail Swimming Center in the State swim meet. On Friday, the 5A semifinals will begin at 4:30, and on Saturday the 5A finals will begin at 3:30. Senior Alyssa Woltemath, and freshmen Catriona MacGregor, Victoria Edwards and Maggie Taylor will be competing in the 200 yard medley relay. Victoria will also compete in the 100 fly, sophomore Nick Carlson will compete in the 200 free, senior Ben Ussery will swim the 100 fly. Other swimmers will be competing mostly in relays, with some swimmers racing in individual events. For a swimmer to advance to the State competition, they have to be in the top two of the Regional competition.

The swim team went to its District competition earlier in the year on Jan. 27, also at the UT Swimming Center. The girls and boys teams both took first place, and many swimmers advanced to Regionals.

“Winning the District championships as a first year coach [at Westlake] was great,” swim coach Eric Capalupo said. “I did feel as though it was expected that Westlake would win at that level, so I took the approach that we should not only win, but strive to win all the events and set ourselves up for a successful Regional Championship Meet.”

At District, Capalupo won the Coach of the Year award for District 15-5A.

“Winning Coach of the Year was very unexpected and very appreciated,” Capalupo said. “I am blessed to coach such a great group of kids and excited to see this program grow and succeed in the next several years.”

For swimmers to advance to Regionals, they have to place in the top six of their events at District. At the Regional competition Feb. 7-8 in Houston, the girls team placed second overall, and the boys team placed fourth.

“Competing at Regionals was a cool and really fun experience,” freshman Maggie Taylor said. “It was exciting to watch everyone compete and do well.”

Here is a list of the swimmers who qualified for Regionals:

Freshmen: Ilse Adame, Victoria Edwards, Kevin Fang, Catriona MacGregor, Maegan Parfan, Maggie Taylor and Will Thomas.

Sophomores: Nick Carlson, Johnny Mayer and Colleen Pletcher

Juniors: Mitchell Beckage, Jessica Conrad, Audie Embestro, Brock Jones, Andre Newlands and Hayden Southworth.

Seniors: Magdalena Contreras Gomez, David Doyal, Mina Glenesk, Bryanna Hundt, Madelyn Hunt, Ben Ussery and Alyssa Woltemath.

Here is a list of the swimmers who qualified for State:

Freshmen: Catriona MacGregor, Victoria Edwards and Maggie Taylor.

Sophomore: Nick Carlson.

Juniors: Audie Embestro, Andre Newlands.

Seniors: Mina Glenesk, Bryanna Hundt, Maddy Hunt, Alyssa Woltemath and Ben Ussery.