FBCA Swimmers receive post-season honors

Story and photo Tracy Brown

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved

PASADENA, TEXAS (June 1, 2019) May brought the swimmers from First Baptist Christian Academy out of the pool and on to the stage as these "Warriors in the Water "celebrated their third season of TAPPS competition.

The Lone Star Academic and Aquatics Federation (LSAAF)  recognized five swimmers from FBCA.  These swimmers have been named to the Academic All-State Lone Star Swim Team. The requirements are that the athletes must have competed in the TAPPS regional swim championship meet and have a minimum of 3.75 overall grade point average. This honor is bestowed on swimmers from their freshman to senior year.   Congratulations to Christopher Brown, Annalyn Henry, Stephen Lawson, Makenzee McComb, and Keeleigh Wilbanks.

Every member of this team improved, or in swimming, “dropped time”. This year, the Hustle Award goes to Annalyn Henry for her outstanding effort at practice and for serving as our team manager at the state championships.  Through the course of the season she worked hard to “knock the rust off” her strokes at practice.  According to head coach Scott Brown, her dedication to the swim team was evident and he is thrilled to be a part of her high school swim career.

The Coach’s Choice Award was presented to Sela Stokes for her hard work in the pool and to recognize the incredible seconds she dropped as she perfected her freestyle strokes throughout the season.  By the end of the season, her progress from marginally able to make it 25 yards to swimming a competitive 100-yard freestyle race was a joy to watch. Sela was also named to the Texas Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association's Academic All-State Award.  This award is limited to Juniors and Seniors who have a 4.0 or above and have a TISCA coaches’ recommendation.

This year’s FBCA Women’s Swim Team MVP was Makenzee McComb.  She is a tough competitor and really took on the backstroke as “her event”.  From her infectious smile during the Wacky Relays at the Big Kahuna Meet at Chavez High School through her push to the wall in the University of Houston Natatorium at regionals, she was FBCA’s women’s high point earner in every meet.

In the Men’s division the Hustle award goes to Timothy Henry for his outstanding effort at practice.  He set a goal at the beginning of the season to reach the state level meet and he did so as an individual in the 100-yard backstroke as well as a member of both the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The Coach’s Choice Award was awarded to the Most Improved swimmer, Harrison Brown, for his hard work in the pool and to recognize him for dropping the most time per 100 yards of any member of the swim team.  His signature event was the 100-yard backstroke and he dropped six seconds to break the FBCA record.  He dropped 20 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle from the Big Kahuna in December to the Regional Meet in January.  That kind of swim deserved a trip to state; where he competed in both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle,  as well as a member of both  the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay.

This year’s MVP and high point earner is Christopher Brown.  He led the team in most points scored at every meet he competed in and as high point earner overall.  He took his third trip to the state championships where he competed in the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relay and individually where he finished seventh in the 200-yard individual medley and fifth place with a new personal best and school record in the 500-yard freestyle.