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Three Medals and a State Record: Flower Mound sophomore Abigail Counts is a state champion
Flower Mound sophomore Abigail Counts came up big at the UIL Class 5A state track meet on Friday in Austin, Texas. Not only did Counts win two gold medals and a silver medal, but she set a new state record.
Counts' first event of the day was wheelchair shot put where she rallied after trailing Stevens' Elicia Meairs by less than an inch. Meairs threw for a 17-9 mark before Counts followed with a first-place 17-10.25 throw.
Next, Counts placed second in an extremely close 100-meter wheelchair race. Counts finished with a time of 18.76 just .02 seconds behind Klein Collins' Chelsea Stein. The top three athletes in the 100M race beat the previous state record.
Lastly, Counts became the 400-meter wheelchair state champion with a state-record breaking time of 1:07.80. Counts finished with over a solid three seconds ahead of Klein Collins' Stein.
Photo by VYPE Media's Thomas Bingham.
Kingwood Park Leans On Relay Teams In Latest State Championship Win
Dynasty accurately describes the Kingwood Park boys swimming and diving program. The Panthers had previous state crowns from the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015 seasons before they competed in the 2020 UIL 5A swimming and diving state championship meet at The University of Texas at Austin's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. They ultimately scored 215 points on Saturday to add another one in the 2020 season finale.
"They battled hard," Kingwood Park boys swim coach Greg McLain said of his team. "When you come up here, it's always tough."
Kingwood Park finished fifth at state in 2019, but learned from that year's champion.
"We knew we were going to be strong," McLain said of this year's relay teams leading the program charge. "We watched what Georgetown did last year, watched how they won their championship and really tried to learn from what they did. We knew the relays were key [and] we really focused on the sprint events. 5A is getting so fast [and] all the teams are so strong now that you gotta do good in the relays."
The Panthers followed that formula from start to finish on Saturday. Senior Christian Ripp got things going when he teamed up with Tyler Scott, Carter Bennett and Logan Rushing in the first boys' final. The group earned a 1:35.57 time in the Boys 200-yard Medley Relay en route to a third-place event finish. Later on, he joined Brendan Flaherty, Frankie Zelasko and Braden Hunt for a Boys 200-yard Freestyle Relay win and a UIL 5A state record time of 1:24.08.
"It means the world to me," said Ripp. "This is my final time swimming. So, being able to win, go out with a gold medal [and] go out with a state championship, it's the best feeling in the world."
Christian Ripp helped Kingwood Park win the 2020 UIL 5A boys swimming state championship. Story to come on VYPE’s s… https://t.co/BtO2zAmBl4— VYPE Houston (@VYPE Houston) 1581797410.0
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