There is a young team of athletes at Stratford that may not be the talk of the campus but they are the talk of the swimming and diving circuit. The Stratford Swimming and Diving team, led by Coach Hoskovec, is a group of nine swimmers and divers who have shaken up the district, region, and state with their talents.

The exceptional thing about this program is that it is made up mostly of underclassmen with only one senior, Harrison Little, as the anchor.

I had the opportunity to talk with these student athletes, and their enthusiasm resonanted in their words. Each supported the other in their quest for his or her personal best or individual drive for the gold.  Coach Hoskovec describes this team as one that has “made many strides towards the goal of returning the Stratford program to the prominence they held in the mid 1990’s”.



This team competed in the State tournament in Austin and showed some exceptional talent. The 200 Medley relay team qualified in 14th after prelims and finished in 12th with a time of 1:39.09.   Prelim swimmers were Hunter Bayley, Jordan Johnson, Harrison Little, and Robe Chuchla, Finals swimmers were Bayley, Marlon Bishop, Michael Bishop, and Andrew Weikel. Katherine Maclean finished the 50 freestyle with a personal best in 10th place, just .01 seconds off of the school record in 24.32. Sara Mokhtari competed well and ripped a few great dives as she finished in 12th place.

The highlight of the meet came in the 500 Freestyle, where Hunter Bayley became the first Spartan swimmer to win a state championship in over a decade and the sixth individual swimmer in school history.  He led the race from start to finish with a time of 4:33.23.  Hunter made it to the finals and finished in 6th place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.04.

The women finished in 37th place in the state with 12 points, while the men came in 22nd position with 43 points.

Watch the interview with these great athletes.  Keep your eyes open because this team is going to blow everyone out of the water!

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shake up what district
written by back to back district champions, February 28, 2007

the only teams they beat at districts were the likes of spring woods and some aldine schools

they got dominated by memorial...again

District???
written by Seriously?, February 28, 2007

I bet Memorial swimmers stayed in the same hotel as the Stratford swimmers in Austin too.

...
written by btw , April 26, 2007

there were no memorial swimmers.