Marble Falls HS swimmers among top 10 in state

By Nathan Hendrix
Sports Editor

In their first year of official competition, two Marble Falls swimmers placed in the top-10 in the state finals in Austin on Saturday, Feb. 16.

Sophomore Landry Stewart and freshman Taylor Ashbaugh competed with the best Texas offers in three events – Stewart in the 200-yard individual medley and the 500-yard freestyle, and Ashbaugh in the 100-yard breaststroke. In all three events, the Mustangs swimmers finished in the top-10.

“We're extremely proud of these girls,” head coach John Berkman said. “It takes a lot of individual commitment and dedication to the sport.”

Stewart finished in ninth-place in the 200 IM on Saturday with a time of two minutes, 11.47 seconds. The Saturday time was an improvement over her 13^th place qualifying time on Friday of 2:13.18. She said she wanted to improve her turns on Saturday.

Stewart finished 10^th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:10.57 – also an improvement over her 5:15.94 time in the preliminary round. After the qualifyer, Stewart said she could post a faster time, but the last 200 yards of the event were “pretty rough.”

Ashbaugh placed fifth in the state in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.01 – a personal best, according to Berkman. Ashbaugh finished 10^th in the preliminary round with a time of 1:08.50

On Friday, Ashbaugh said she expected both swimmers to improve their times on Saturday after the nervous feeling passed.

“I think I could go at it a little harder,” she said. “The nerves took a toll, but they'll be gone [on Saturday].”

Both swimmers have several more years of competition, and the future of Mustangs swimming is bright.

“[Landry and Taylor] are setting the tone for the future of the swimming program,” Berkman said. “We hope that other students get involved. We already have a tradition of winning.”

Find more images in the Tuesday, Feb. 18 issue of The Highlander.