Hahnville boys’ swim team sets record by finishing fourth in state

The Hahnville boys’ swim team put on quite a show at the LHSAA championship swim meet, finishing in fourth place to set a school record.

The Hahnville boys combined for 169 points, which put them just behind third-place Mandeville. Catholic High School won the state title, while Jesuit came in second.

“I was just really excited,” Hahnville swim coach Elizabeth Basta said of her team’s performance. “We had the potential to do as well as we did, but it was a shock to go from where we were in previous years to fourth in state.”

Nine Hahnville boys qualified for individual events in the state meet, with junior Blaise Wise cruising to a second-place finish in the 200-meter individual medley. Wise also finished 10th in the 100-meter backstroke.

Junior Warren Massimini also had two great performances, finishing fifth in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.

Hahnville junior Vincent Tamplain garnered two top-10 finishes of his own, coming in sixth in the 100-yard freestyle and ninth in the 100-yard backstroke.

Freshman Jay Madden also captured the 10th spot in the 100-yard breaststroke and finished 17th in the 200-yard individual medley.

Along with their impressive individual performances, the Tigers also had success in relay events. Hahnville’s 400-yard freestyle relay team, which consisted of Tamplain, Wise, Massimini and Joe Foucha, swam to a third-place finish. The 200-yard medley relay team, which consisted of Wise, Tamplain, Massimini and Brice Soignier, finished in fourth place.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team finished in eighth place. Swimmers on that team included Soignier, Austin Burke, Seth Mullins and Tony Corley.

Other top individual performances by Hahnville swimmers included:

Corley (17th place in 50-yard freestyle), Soignier (15th place in 50-yard freestyle, 15th place in 100-yard breaststroke), Foucha (21st place in 100-yard butterfly, 28th place in 100-yard freestyle), Burke (21st place in 50-yard freestyle, 26th place in 100-yard freestyle) and Mullins (21st place in 100-yard backstroke, 36th place in 50-yard freestyle).

The Hahnville boys’ swim team has steadily improved in recent years. In 2012, the team finished in 13th place. Last year, they came in 12th.

Basta credits that improvement to her team’s hard work and positive attitude.

“They are really driven to work very hard,” she said. “They have a positive attitude and we are like one big family. They encourage each other and they have come a long way.”Many members of the swim team will return next year, and Basta is very excited about the future.

“We lose some strong swimmers, but we return a lot of strong swimmers,” she said. “I am expecting a lot of top performances and amazing relays.”

 

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