HOUSTON -- A&M Consolidated senior Sean O'Shea qualified for the UIL State Swimming and Diving Championships in two individual events and on two relay teams to lead the Tigers at the Region 4 meet Saturday.
O'Shea, who has signed with Texas A&M, qualified for state in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley. He also was a member of the Consol 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams that earned berths in the state meet set for Feb. 22-23 in Austin.
The event champions from all eight regions earned automatic bids to state, with the next eight fastest times qualifying, regardless of region.
In the team standings, the Consol boys finished sixth with 46 points. The Woodlands won the Region 4 championship with 122 points, while Klein Collins and Round Rock tied for second at 72.
"Overall, I'm very pleased," Consol coach Ryan Goodwyn said. "We swam very well as a group. There are some definite areas that we had some disappointments, but you very rarely go to a meet and get everything you want. We had so many positive things that I've got to walk away happy and be proud of these guys overall."
O'Shea came closest to winning a regional title, finishing second in the 100 breaststroke with a lifetime-best and school-record time of 57.33 seconds. Chad Sorensen of The Woodlands won in 57.21, with Consol's Oliver Horvat eighth at 1:00.27. O'Shea had the fastest time of the eight call-ups to state.
"I think [O'Shea and Sorensen] are the two guys that are going to be battling it out for first and second at state," Goodwyn said. "That guy barely touched him out at the finish. That's the top two in the state right there."
O'Shea finished fifth in the 200 IM with a time of 1:57.25 and was the last swimmer added to the state field. He set a new school record by swimming 1:56.98 in the preliminaries Friday.
Consol's 200 medley relay team of Brett Cast, Sean O'Shea, Benjamin Jackson and Stephen O'Shea took third Saturday with a time of 1:37.03 and easily qualified for state as the second call-up.
The Tigers' 200 freestyle relay team that included Jack Burley, Stephen O'Shea, Jackson and Sean O'Shea was sixth at regionals and got the last spot at state with a 1:27.97.
Goodwyn was surprised that the 400 freestyle relay didn't advance. Burley, Stephen O'Shea, Cast and Jackson finished fifth in 3:12.60 for a school record, but it was .08 seconds slower than the final state qualifier.
Consol freshman Stacie O'Shea was the only local girl to reach Saturday's finals. She finished eighth in the 100 backstroke in a school-record time of 1:00.27.
Bryan diver Matthew Kelly advanced to the finals on the 1-meter springboard and took eighth place with 261 points.
The other Consol swimmers who made the regional finals were Ben Munster (eighth in 500 freestyle), Horvat (eighth in 200 IM), Burley (fifth in 100 freestyle) and Cast (eighth in 100 backstroke).
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