Bryan's Clark ready for state swimming meet

Bryan junior Haley Clark is treating the UIL State Swimming & Diving Championships as just another meet.

Still she will be doing everything she can to post her best time and a top finish.

"We're resting, and we're going to shave, and we'll wear our fast suits," Clark said. "We're going to go for best times."

None of that took place at regionals. While her time indicated that she was a strong favorite at the Class 5A Region III meet, the races were close, and Clark finished in a tie for first in the 50-yard freestyle.

"It looked at first like I didn't have a lot of competition, but the other girls stood up and showed that they could race," Clark said.

With winners in each regional automatically qualifying for state, the other qualifiers were based strictly on time. Texas' high school swim coaches held up release of the times until all of the regions were complete and many were delayed by weather.

"It drove everybody crazy, but I was OK because I had won my events and knew I was going to make it," Clark said. "Coaches didn't want people to base times on how other swimmers went."

Clark comes by her swimming naturally. Her mother and father were both swimmers at Ohio University. Her father Henry coaches her as a senior coach at the Texas A&M Student Rec Center. He was team captain for three years in college. In 2007 at the Masters World Championship, he set a world record for the 40-44 age group in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.20. Haley's mother Shannon specialized in the backstroke. Shannon is the Director of the Texas A&M Swim Camp and has coached the Bryan Barracudas and College Station Tsunamis.

"My parents didn't actually want me or my brother to be a swimmer," Haley said. "They were tired of it. They had done it their whole life. They noticed that we really liked the water when we were really little kids, so they brought us to the pool. From there, we built on our swimming skills and we got better.

"I remember when I was in Swim to Learn and all of the kids were on the side of the pool because they were afraid. I was in the middle of the pool blowing bubbles. I think I was about 4."

After a stellar youth swimming career with the Aggie Swim Club, this is Haley Clark's first season to swim as a member of Bryan's varsity team.

"I was very nervous, but at the same time I was confident that I was going to do well," Clark said. "I wasn't as nervous as I get for some other meets. This meet was new to me."

She says she was excited about swimming for Bryan on the relays, where the Lady Vikings advanced to the top eight at regional and lowered their time significantly.

"At Mansfield [Natatorium, the regional site], I had never been there and I messed up my turns," said Clark, who is extremely familiar with the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center, host of the state meet.

"I've been there bunches of times," Clark said. "I had a lot of big meets there. It's just like the [Texas A&M] Rec Center, except for it's Texas. The walls are about the same, so I'm confident that everything will go well with my starts and everything -- it's just the competition and trying to make it into the top eight."

To have a chance to step up to the medal stand, a swimmer must post a time in the preliminary round good enough to reach the finals.

"People usually think in prelims, 'Oh, I'll go easy and make the finals,'" Clark said. "At a state meet like that, you have to try your hardest if you want to make the top eight.

There are no guarantees. Her region-winning time of 24.09 seconds in the 50 freestyle ranks 11th among those qualified at state. The 100 butterfly time of 57.02 is 14th among qualifiers.

It is the 5A high school state championship, but much of the motivation for Clark at state comes from her back ground in club swimming, not at the high school level.

"All of the girls I'm racing against are club swimmers and we all want to be the best and be No. 1," Clark said. "I already know them. We're all kind of close and we're all trying to compete for the same spot but nobody's going to let that come easily."

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A&M Consolidated's Hayden Duplechain is the highest-seeded swimmer from the Brazos Valley. His regional time of 1:53.76 ranks him fifth. The Consol senior is also at state in the 100 breaststroke.

Consol freshman Shelby Lerew, who won the regional title in the 1-meter diving at the Region III meet, had the third-best point total in the event at 436.8.

Like Duplechain, Brenham junior Guy Buls is a two-event individual qualifier, qualifying in the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke.

Consol's Robyn Miller, who will compete in the 100 breaststroke, will also swim a leg on the Tigers' 200 medley relay.

Brazos Valley State Swim Meet qualifiers

Numbers to the left indicate the ranking at the state meet. Numbers to the right are regional times and totals.

Class 5A Girls

50 freestyle

11. Haley Clark, Bryanjr.24.09

100 butterfly

14. Haley Clark, Bryanjr.57.02

100 breaststroke

15. Robyn Millerjr.1:06.86

200 medley relay

14. A&M Consolidated1:51.73

Katie Hirsch, Robyn Miller, Teresa deFigueredo,Shelby Buenger

1 meter diving

3. Shelby Lerewfr.463.80

Class 5A Boys

200 Individual Medley

5. Hayden Duplechian, A&M Consolidatedsr.1:53.76

100 breaststroke

15. Hayden Duplechian, A&M Consolidatedsr.59.48

Class 4A Boys

200 Individual Medley

8. Guy Buls, Brenhamjr.1:57.26

100 Backstroke

8. Guy Buls, Brenhamjr.53.72

Friday

8:30 - 10 a.m. -- 5A swim warm up and dive practice

10 a.m. -- 5A swimming prelims and diving prelims, semifinals, and consolations

3:00 - 4:30 p.m. -- 4A swim warm up and dive practice

4:30 p.m. -- 4A swimming prelims and diving prelims, semifinals, and consolations

Saturday

8 - 9:30 am -- 5A swim warm up and dive practice

9:30 a.m.-- 5A swimming and diving finals

2 - 3:30 p.m. -- 4A swim warm up and dive practice

3:30 p.m. -- 4A swimming and diving finals