The Tulare Western High School girls' swim team made school history this season.
The Mustangs captured the 2024 Central Section Division II championship on May 4 to become the first swim team in school history to win a section title.
Tulare Western scored 215.5 points for first place in the 37-team final. Reedley was second with 185.5 points and Porterville finished third at 168.
“It was one of my top coaching moments,” Mustangs head coach Jenna McGuire said. “I could not be more proud of the girls. They went in definitely not favored to win Valley so to watch them push themselves and drop the times that they did, to make that championship happen is a career highlight by far.”
Tulare Western did not have an individual section champion but was the only team at the championship meet to qualify a swimmer for every event.
Lauren Starr led the way, placing second overall in the 50-yard freestyle at 25.57 seconds.
Makayla McGuire also turned in a strong performance as an individual, finishing fourth in the 100-yard freestyle.
The Mustangs accumulated points with a top-eight finish in every event except the 100-yard butterfly.
Makayla McGuire, Starr, Lily Babb and Savannah Goodwin placed fourth in the 200-yard medley relay.
Goodwin also finished sixth in the 200-yard freestyle and seventh in the 500-yard freestyle.
Sierra Hodson pulled through with an eighth-place performance in the 200-yard individual medley.
Starr, Olivia Machado, Goodwin and Makayla McGuire combined to win the meet’s 200-yard freestyle relay, setting a new school record at 1 minute and 43.80 seconds.
“This team is so close,” coach McGuire said. “They’re such good friends. It kind of meant the most for this team to say, ‘Alright, we did it. This was the dream team.’ They all worked so well together, loved one and another so it was very special.”
Makayla McGuire also placed seventh in the 100-yard backstroke and Starr also had a seventh-place showing in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Babb, Hudson, Machado and Starr swam to a fourth-place finish.
“That’s a testament to our depth,” coach McGuire said. “A huge winning point for us was we had a top eight [finish] in all three relays. That’s a hard thing to field. It’s very hard to get enough swimmers who not only are able to field those events but also be able to swim them phenomenally well.”
Makayla McGuire and Gianna Fernandes served as the Mustangs’ team captains this season.
Their leadership helped provide a positive and steady team personality throughout the year.
“Gianna is a phenomenal people motivator,” McGuire said. “We call her our chief of people operations because she’s just our person who is going to everyone, uplifting them, and telling them, ‘We can do this. We can do that.’ She’s the one who's doing the math in her head, always massively motivating.”
Makayla McGuire, the coach’s daughter, helped lead the team this season as the squad’s swim expert, providing advice and tips on swimming technique.
“She knows a lot about swim,” McGuire said of her only child. “She’s the one that’s always helping everybody, ‘Hey, if you do your foot turn like this it’s going to help a lot. Your backstroke start, you need to do it this way.’ The two of them really bring different dynamics that just made this whole perfect duo that really led the team so well this year.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0