The annual Houston Area Private & Parochial Invitational meet was held Saturday at the Spring Branch ISD Natatorium.

“This is the fifth meet we’ve held this time of year. It was created by Bruce Rollins (former Duchesne coach) because generally in TAPPS, there aren’t too many meets. We have to seek out our own schedules,” said Duchesne coach Christy Garth.

Teams from fourteen different schools competed in 22 events. Duchesne Academy placed first for the women with a combined total score of 532. St. Thomas Episcopal placed second for the women with a score of 280. Lutheran South Academy placed first for the men with a combined team score of 325. St. Thomas High School came in a close second with 308.

The Women’s 200 Yard Medley Relay started things off. Taking first place was the team of Gabriella Lozano, Catherine Finley, Emily Aven, and Christine McGough from St. Thomas Episcopal (2:13.27). John Cooper School’s men’s team of Bryce Poeter, Colin Smith, and Zac Jijares-Shafai took first place (1:49.64).

The 200 Yard Freestyle was up next. Duchesne’s Maria Edmundson placed first (2:08.03) as did John Cooper School’s Zac Mijares-Shafai (1:46.10).

The 200 Yard IM was won by Lutheran High North Swim Team’s Brittany Morgan (2:30.91) and John Cooper School’s Andrew Ghazi (2:13.00).

The 50 Yard Freestyle was next. Ashley Hartung from Duchesne placed first (26.70) as did Jasper Barsingerhorn from AWTY (22.79).

The 100 Yard Butterfly saw John Cooper School’s Lauren Rice take first (1:08.47) and Lutheran South Academy’s John Wong (53.38) take first.

Duchesne’s Maria Edmundson (58.17) placed first in the 100 Yard Freestyle as did John Cooper School’s Zac Mijares-Shafai (48.55).

Ashley Alspaugh of St. Pius X placed first in the 500 Yard Freestyle with a time of 5:53.62. Brennan Harmeier of St. Thomas High School placed first for the men with a time of 5:54.81.

The 200 Yard Freestyle Relay was next. Duchesne took first for the women with a time of 1:52.08. Lutheran South Academy’s men’s team placed first with 1:36.24.

The 100 Yard Backstroke was won by Ashley Alspaugh from St. Pius with a time of 1:06.17. Kyle Petersen of Lutheran South Academy placed first for the men with a time of 57.91.

The 100 Yard Breaststroke was event 19. Kendall Williams from Duchesne placed first with a time of 1:12.86 and John Wong from Lutheran South Academy won it by swimming a 1:06.56.

Concluding the meet was the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Duchesne’s women’s team swam a 3:58.02 for first. Lutheran South Academy’s men’s team of Kyle Petersen, Karch Petersen, Alex Naumann, and John Wong swam a 3:33.64 for first place.

“Today’s meet was a little bit of an aberration. Normally we tend to get more schools like St. Agnes, Strake Jesuit, and Kinkaid,” said Garth. “We (Duchesne) won’t see any of these schools at state, so this meet is a great chance to race against other competition.” 

Garth spoke of Duchesne’s season to this point saying, “So far we’ve done a great job but we have more work to do. We’ve had great times and everyone has been training hard. ...

“We have had one recent setback though. One person you would normally see in our line up that you haven’t, is Nicole Hjorteset, who just broke her arm.” 

Up next for Duchesne is the Cardinal Classic.

“It’s a meet that Bellaire hosts and it’s fantastic. There is a lot of good competition. And after that we head to the regional meet,” Garth said.

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