Swimmers and divers prepare for district

Jill Johnson, the experienced diving and swimming coach with many years of coaching aquatic sports has been the head swimming and diving coach again for the Texan swimmers and divers since the beginning of this season. Now she and a couple of talented athletes look forward to the up-coming regions and possible state competition. The state meet will take place on January 25 at the University of Texas Swim Center in what Coach Johnson calls “a great swim facility.”

Johnson relates that Wimberley’s swimming schedule was not finalized until August just as school was about to begin. “We’re kind of at the mercy of other schools because we don’t have a pool in Wimberley where we can train. So, we practice mostly at the YMCA pool in Dripping Springs or at San Marcos Academy. Of course, without our own pool, all of our meets are away events.”

In addition, Wimberley often must compete against 5A high school teams such as Austin McCallum, Austin LBJ, Austin Crockett, Drippings Springs and Austin Ann Richards with pools on campus.

For her, the best part of this season has been the growth of the program. “We gained a lot of freshmen this year, so it’s extra rewarding that most of them have stayed with us. Some of these 9th graders improve quickly during the year and progress fast in real stroke swimming while improving their times.”

Texan swimmer Thom Naccarato and diver Evan Mayhew, both Wimberley seniors, will need to challenge experienced and talented opponents if they are to mount the medal stand at the University of Texas Swim Center on January 25. Those other talented swimmers will come mostly from long-established and successful programs with many swimmers and several divers on their teams.

Diver Evan Mayhew says, “My family has a tradition of competitive diving which all started with my older brother.” Mayhew believes he can repeat last year’s success of advancing into the top three divers who move on from district to the regional event then to state.

Swimmer Thom Naccarato went to state last year and believes he can make a return to the big pool at the U of Texas. Because he can swim any number of events including 50 free style, 100 free-style, 100 butterfly or 100 backstroke, he and his coach prefer not to reveal which he’ll swim because other coaches may adjust their swimmers’ events to avoid direct competition with Naccarato.

“I’m most likely to make the regionals since I made it last year,” he says. “But, we’ve switched districts so it’s hard to know who’s there competing. It all comes down to just one meet at a time.”

However, Coach Johnson believes that with her swimmer’s previous experience at a state meet, he very well could win state titles in two events at this year’s state meet.