Local swimmers contribute in McMurry War Hawks win over Austin College, Centenary College

Christopher Brown
Photo courtesy of
McMurry Athletics
Media Relations Department

By Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved

SHERMAN, TEXAS (January 23, 2021) The McMurry University swimming and diving team travelled to Sherman, Texas on Saturday to take on the Austin College Kangaroos and Centenary College in a double-dual meet at Hannah Natatorium.

The McMurry men claimed two more wins to remain unbeaten this season, taking down Austin College 178-40 and snagging a close matchup with Centenary 117-111. The McMurry women competed at a high level but came up short in both battles, falling 149-74 to Austin College and 139.50-76.50 against Centenary.

Christopher Brown (First Baptist Christian Academy, Pasadena, Texas) competed in the events; 200-yard freestyle , 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. In the 200-yard freestyle (2:19.71) and thE 500-yard freestyle (6:34.44)  , he posted two third-place finishes, while tallying seventh-place in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:25.78).

Melanie Jimenez
Photo courtesy of 
McMurry Athletics
Media Relations Department

Melanie Jimenez (Pasadena Memorial High School, Pasadena, Texas) swam in three individual and two relay events. She place third in both the 50-yard freestyle (:28.54) and 100-yard freestyle (1:02.25) and fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle (2:18.45). In the relays, she swam the backstroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay (third place, 2:10.02) and the leadoff leg of the exhibition 200-yard freestyle relay (1:58.99).

Prior to college, both Brown and Jimenez competed for the South Belt Area "All Stars" swimming team in club swimming.

McMurry head coach, Casey Pacheco stated in a prepared press release, after the meet:

"Today's meet was a lot of fun especially going up against tough competition. We knew this was going to be a meet of picking up extra spots and swimming some events out of our comfort zones. The team responded well and competed from the first event to the last."

Former Pasadena-area high school swimmers competed in first college meet of 2021

By Robert H Kelly

Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO (January 15, 2021) Three swimmers who competed for Pasadena, Texas area schools during their prep careers kicked of the 2020-2021 college season with a series of dual meets at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Melanie Jimenez (Pasadena Memorial HS, Class of 2020) and Christopher Brown (First Baptist Christian Academy, Class of 2020) are competing for McMurry University (Abilene, Texas) , with Michael Vargas (Sam Rayburn HS, Class of 2019) is competing for the University of the Ozarks Eagles, located in Clarksville, Arkansas.

In the first day of the two-day competition, the McMurry War Hawks were competing against Austin College while the Ozark Eagles faced Colorado College. In the McMurry vs. Austin meet, the War Hawks downed the Kangaroos in the men's division 138-38. In the women's division, Austin topped McMurry, 103-72. In the Ozark vs. Colorado matchup, the Tigers down the Eagles, 178-44

Photo courtesy of
McMurry Athletics
Media Relations Department

Jimenez (shown left) competed in two individual and two relay events. Her first individual event of the meet was the 50-yard freestyle, where she placed second with the time :28.33. In the 100-yard freestyle, she placed third (1:02.68) in a race that saw a mere 63-hundreths of a second between the top-three places. The War Hawks 200-yard medley relay saw the former Maverick regional qualifier swim the freestyle leg, anchoring the relay to a second place finish. The 400-yard freestyle relay was contested as an "exhibition" swim, due to entry limitation. Jimenez swam the leadoff leg with the time of 1:04.74  in route to a final time of 4:27.81.

Photo courtesy of
McMurry Athletics
Media Relations Department

On the men's side of the War Hawks-Kangaroo contest, Brown (shown right) competed the 1000-yard freestyle, where he posted the time of 14:13.48, good enough for a third-place finish. In the 100-yard backstroke, he took fourth place, with the time of 1:19.48. The final event for the freshman was the 100-yard backstroke, where clocked the time of 1:16.08 in an exhibition swim. 

Photo courtesy of
University of the Ozarks
Sports Information
Department

Vargas (shown left) competed in two swimming and one diving event in the Eagles' contest against the Colorado, The sophomore  placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (2:29.84) and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:11.51). In one-meter diving, he took third place (103.95 points).

All three swimmers will meet on Saturday, when McMurry and Ozarks face off in the final competition of the weekend.