Memorial swimming coach Jason Mauss didn’t expect his boys team to edge Fort Bend Hightower by only 11 points Thursday night at Don Cook Natatorium.

He did believe, though, that if given the chance his young 400-yard freestyle relay team would hold off Hightower.

They did, doing exactly what they needed to secure a 79-68 victory.

Sophomores Alex Pujol and Emil Kylzmarkula, junior Cole Hepper and freshman Harrison Robinson edged Hightower’s Marc Isaac, Brandon Brooks, Benjamin Sherman and Deon Taylor by nearly two seconds (3:31.89-3:33.64) in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Memorial finished first and third, the two spots it needed to clinch the win.

“Emil swam his best time (54 seconds) on the third lap and Cole went his lifetime best with 55. That was all he could give us and more,” Mauss said. “I was hoping Cole was gonna keep us right there because I knew if it got to Harrison he wasn’t gonna get beat.”

Memorial’s boys defeated Fort Bend Travis 91-36; Hightower topped Travis 95-38.

Memorial’s girls won nine events to breeze by Hightower 127-32 and defeat Travis 118-38.

Travis defeated Hightower 82-43.

Harrison also won the 50 free (23.19) and 100 free (50.36) and was on the winning 200 free relay (1:31.38). Jesus Tobias won 1-meter diving (10.01), Nick Pelini won the 500 free (5:32.37), Pujol the 100 back (1:01.21) and Memorial won the 200 medley relay (1:54.49).

“We held back three of our top guys and the rest of our guys stepped up. A few of them had career-bests,” said Mauss, who wanted to get better looks at his younger swimmers. “We wanted to see what the new freshmen and sophomores would do. We only had one senior out there tonight, whereas with the girls that’s the team you’re going to see.”

Christine Moody won the 100 free (1:01.5) and 100 back (1:11.09) and Kristin Rollins took the 200 free (2:07.39) and 100 butterfly (1:03.15) to lead the Mustangs girls, who also won the 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free relays.

Sarah Blackwell won the 500 free (6:23.79) and Cheryl Wan won the 50 free (26.56), in which Memorial swept the top three places.

Three-time state participant and three-time All-American Chelsea McCorvey set a pool record in 1-meter diving. McCorvey scored 267.55, 18 points better than Foster’s Rachel Ware in 2004.

“I’ve been wanting to break some kind of record since I started high school diving,” said McCorvey, who may dive collegiately at LSU or Houston. “I just come to compete, but it’s a comfortable feeling for me at this pool. I’ve been to this pool a lot.”

* CINCO RANCH SPLITS WITH CLEMENTS: Michael Peron won the 50 free (22.97) and was on the winning 200 medley and 200 free relay teams as Cinco Ranch split with Clements at Don Cook Natatorium.

The boys won 97-73; the girls lost 97.5-74.5.

Peron teamed with Thomas Brisson, Cheyne Hermes and Jason Buckert on the 200 medley (1:42.87) and Diego Laris, Ben Heppard and Jason Ting (1:33.11) in the 200 free. Hermes won the 100 breaststroke (1:03.4) and Cinco Ranch also won the 400 free relay (3:22.34). It went 1-2-3 in the 100 breaststroke and 2-3-4 in the 100 butterfly.

Anne Lanier paced the girls by winning the 100 free (56.2), being the first leg on the second-place 200 medley (1:56.78) and 400 freestyle (3:49.66) relay teams and placing second in the 50 free (26.05).

“We showed a little more depth than I thought we had because we lost three key seniors from last year,” coach Christie Patterson said. “For the most part we’re rebuilding so I was glad to see (the girls race) as close as it was. And a lot of our boys swam near personal-bests.”

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