AUSTIN – Behind a gold-medal efficiency on the diving boards from Bella Sanouvong and a relentless pursuit of the rostrum by the boys’s relay squads, Carroll Swim and Dive re-established itself as a premier power on the 2026 UIL Class 6A State Championships this previous weekend.
Sanouvong captured the state title in 1-meter diving with a rating of 465.60, headlining a weekend that noticed the Dragon Men rocket from a Twelfth-place end in 2025 to a third-place podium end in 2026. The Lady Dragons have been equally formidable, securing fourth place general in a high-octane discipline on the University of Texas Swim Center.
In a sport usually determined by the contact of a wall, the Dragon Men proved that each second counts. Accumulating 121 factors, Carroll managed to leapfrog The Woodlands (120) by a single level to say the bronze.
The surge was anchored by a veteran senior core of William Zhang, Finn McAteer and Colin Heintz, whose management fueled a sequence of All-American performances. The Men’s 400-Free Relay (Dylan Heldenbrand, Zhang, Ethan Jetty and Kobe Dickheiser) delivered the spotlight of the meet, clocking a 3:03.12 to take dwelling the State Silver Medal.
The momentum continued within the 200-Free Relay, the place Heldenbrand, Heintz, Jetty and Dickheiser notched a fourth-place end (1:23.79). On the diving aspect, junior Jack Ma offered an enormous factors enhance, ending fourth with 502.50 factors.
While Sanouvong offered the golden spotlight, the Lady Dragons’ fourth-place crew end (125 factors) was constructed on a basis of All-American pace and elite relay execution.
Olivia Colombo cemented her standing as one of many state’s premier backstrokers, securing the State Silver Medal within the 100 Back with an Automatic All-American time of 54.52. She was additionally a significant element of a relay core that went three-for-three in reaching All-American standing.
The Lady Dragon relay highlights included:
400 Free Relay (third Place): The crew of Olivia Colombo, Charlie Rockafellow, Taryn Plows and Emma Bibza clocked a 3:26.99 to say the bronze and an Automatic All-American time.
200 Free Relay (fifth Place): Emma Bibza, Alessia Palmisani, Taryn Plows and Olivia Colombo completed in 1:35.41, incomes one other Automatic All-American nod.
200 Medley Relay: The quartet of Olivia Colombo, Emma Bibza, Jenna Khalaf, and Taryn Plows posted a blistering 1:44.05 within the prelims to safe an Automatic All-American commonplace.
Bibza added to the person tally with a fifth place end within the 100 Fly (55.07), whereas Plows took Twelfth within the 100 Back (56.65).