Cooper boys, girls splash to victory

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - Together, The John Cooper School girls’ and boys’ swim teams captured first-place honors by five points out of a pool of 16 area teams at the HAPP (Houston Association of Private and Parochial Schools) Invitational on Saturday.

Separately, the girls easily brought home first place with a lead of 84 points, while the boys tied with SPC rival Kinkaid for eighth place.

“We had more best times swam than at any other meet,” said Cooper swim coach Steve Breeding, who had most of his swimmers shave seed times by up to six seconds. “Another great thing is that those who just started swimming or who do not compete year round, really contributed to the winning of the meet. We only won the combined championship by five points, so swims by Meredith Brus and Joe Lindley are what secured the win for the team.”

The girls swam strong in relays. The team of Sydney Shannon, Katrin Gallup, Kati-Li Walker and Madison Wisenbaker finished first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 59.40 seconds. Madeline Bliss, and Kelsey Vetalice joined Walker and Gallup to finish first in the 400 free relay (3:58.86).

In the 200 free relay, Christina Berry and Chelsey Lindemann joined Bliss and Shannon in a fourth-place finish (1:50.76).

On the boys’ side, the team of Joe Lindley, Stuart McRobbie, Ryan Sharkey and Matthew Flanagan finished fifth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:55.79. David Taylor joined Sharkey, Flanagan and McRobbie to bring home sixth-place honors in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:45.15.

“I am very proud of the team coming together,” said Coach Breeding, whose team will compete against many of the same teams on February 16 at the Southwest Preparatory Conference championships in Dallas.