TAMPA — Considering the losses the Jesuit boys swim team sustained from graduation — the Tigers lost four state meet point scorers — this might have been seen as a rebuilding year.
But a new group made sure history repeated itself this season as Jesuit won its 12th straight district title, taking the Class 2A-8 district meet Saturday at Berkeley Prep.
"This team definitely has a different dynamic," senior Dylan Attal said. "We would just have studs year after year. This year, we realized we were going to have to position ourselves more as a team."
Jesuit handily outpointed second-place Hillsborough 550 to 328, while the Holy Names girls earned their second straight district title with an equally dominating 554-307 win over Sickles.
The Tigers' top swimmers stepped up Saturday. Attal won the 100-yard butterfly (56.02 seconds) and the 200 individual medley (2 minutes, 10.93 seconds) and sophomore Chris Swanson won the 100 free (49.59) and 200 free (1:45.74).
"I challenged those guys earlier this week and I told them, 'You're going to win this thing, and you're not going to get your names in the paper," Jesuit/Holy Names coach Bill Shaffer said. "So before Chris stepped up for his 100, I told him, 'Dylan did his two. Now it's your turn.' "
Holy Names' depth showed throughout the meet, especially in the 100 breast, when the Jaguars finished 1-2-3 in a race won by freshman Victoria Litschgi (1:14.29). Senior Molly Sheridan won one of the best races of the night, edging Sickles' Katie Cook in the 50 free by 1/10 of a second. Sheridan also swam the lead leg on the Jaguars' first-place 200 and 400 free relays.
Spoto sophomore Giorgie Leigh Graves was the only female to win multiple individual events, taking the 500 free and the 100 fly.
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