February 9, 2022

Twelve Dripping Springs High School swimmers and divers qualified for the UIL 5A State Meet after their performances at the Region V-5A Championships on Monday and Tuesday in College Station.

For the girls, Anna Hoskovec captured the regional title in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:07.48 and recorded a runner-up finish in the 200-yard freestyle to advance to state in both events. Both the girls' 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams qualified for state with Hoskovec joining Athena Turner, Macie McCurry and Riley Dalton to finish third in both relay events. Sydney Stalbaum recorded a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle behind Hoskovec to also punch a ticket to state. Audrey Wilson finished second in one-meter diving with a school-record performance of 392.60 points to advance to state.

Colin O’Connor and Gage Hembree were individual state qualifiers for the boys, advancing in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.

Dripping Springs also qualified two boys’ relay teams. The 400-yard freestyle relay comprised of Hembree, Wyatt Johnson, Nolan Granger and Joseph Parsons set a new school record with a time of 3:16.01. The 200-yard medley relay team of O’Connor, Hembree, Parsons and Aidan Jones rounded out the state qualifiers for the Tigers. In addition to the state qualifiers, the boys’ 200-yard freestyle relay of Johnson, Granger, O’Connor and Jones set a school record with a time of 1:31.06.

Head coach Michael Hoskovec was one of three coaches named Region V-5A Girls’ Swimming Coaches of the Year. DSHS finished in fourth place in both the boys’ and girls’ team races.  

The UIL State Meet will be held Feb. 18-19 at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on The University of Texas at Austin campus. The swimming and diving prelims will begin on Friday at 10 a.m., while the finals will take place on Saturday beginning at 9:30 a.m. 

State Qualifiers

Girls

Riley Dalton – 200-yard Freestyle Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay

Anna Hoskovec – 200-yard Freestyle, 500-yard Freestyle, 200-yard Freestyle Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay

Macie McCurry – 200-yard Freestyle Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay

Sydney Stalbaum – 500-yard Freestyle

Athena Turner – 200-yard Freestyle Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay

Audrey Wilson – 1M Diving

Boys

Nolan Granger – 400-yard Freestyle Relay

Gage Hembree – 100-yard Breaststroke, 200-yard Medley Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay

Wyatt Johnson – 400-yard Freestyle Relay

Aidan Jones – 200-yard Medley Relay

Colin O’Connor – 100-yard Backstroke, 200-yard Medley Relay

Joseph Parsons – 200-yard Medley Relay, 400-yard Freestyle Relay