Our season started off with a bang this year with the first official meet being the ever-favored Angleton sprint meet. A meet that Ball High has been in attendance for as long as Coach Godfrey has been the Ball swim coach and possibly more. The Angleton Sprintathalon is a favorite among coaches and swimmers alike. It’s an all-day event that only has sprint events that other meets usually do not have. The events are the 50 Freestyle, 50 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle, 50 Backstroke, 50 Breaststroke, and the 200 Freestyle relay.

The sprint meet is not meant for one to worry about their placement overall, but for their times, either how much they improved or what their beginner times are. It’s also great for newcomers and returners, the 50’s are base times to let everyone know where they stand and predict how their 100’s will turn out. Returners go to this meet in the hope of improving their older times.

This year the Ball High Swim team has eight new swimmers, something the team hasn’t seen in years. Four of the newcomers; Mia Landry-McLauchlan, Landon Morris, Michael Mixon, and Ivan Hernandez, swam all six events while the other four, Ella Sanders, Abigail Hart, Landen Hart and Carlos Rodriguez only did the 50 Freestyle, 50 Backstroke, and the 200 Free Relay.

All our newcomers did great and blew their previously set expectations out of the water. The turnout for newcomers ended up beating the returners by one, which again is something that was unheard of for Ball High. The returners are Abigail Obert, Isabel Obert, Moya Hudson, Kyanna Jankowiak, Sam Davison, Jonathan Moran, and Jude Davis. Two of our swimmers were missing, Kai Jankowiak and Noah Legrand-Mixon.

All our returnees who were present swam at all six events and everyone was able to drop time from their previously set times, a great accomplishment and a good sign for the start of a new season. So, with a great start at the ever-loved sprint meet, everyone is excited to see how the rest of the meet plays out.