On February 7th and 8th, the Belton Tigers competed at the 2025 Region VI-5A Championship Meet hosted by Texas A&M Consolidated. Our Tigers may have been a small group, but they competed on a large scale! Our Girls' team took 4th place overall, the highest our Belton Girls' have ever been at this Regional meet with only 6 Girls! Our Boys' took 12th place with the exact same number in attendance! There were several incredible individual efforts from both the Preliminary session on Friday and Finals session on Saturday, such as Lili Nelson finishing in 3rd and 2nd in both of her events, securing her spot once again at the State level. Lili Nelson was also a 1:56.32 in the 200 Freestyle on Friday, putting her exactly 0.01 seconds behind the school record currently held by Maddie Finley (1:56.31). Fortunately for Lili, she will get at least one, possibly two more opportunities to break the record! Addison Richardson was another major highlight of the weekend, where he finished 8th in 200 Freestyle and automatically qualified for the UIL-5A State meet with his 1st place finish in the 500 Freestyle! Zee Gingerich and Olivia Brillhart were also two swimmers with massive Senior year performances, finding both swimmers in the A-finals for their respective events. Zee finished 5th overall in both of her events (50 and 100 Free), seeing her boast a top 30 time across 5A! Olivia Brillhart finished 8th in both events (50 Free and 100 Back) and was crucial in her role on both Girls' relays which are headed to the UIL-5A State meet on call-ups! Raef Airhart placed in both the B-final for 100 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke, allowing him to swim his first sub-1:00 Backstroke all season (59.91). Raef was a spectacular piece for our Boys' relays, providing critical races and out-touching another relay team in the 400 Freestyle Relay, as the anchor! Juniors Sophia Detert and Maddox Spence both performed at a high level, getting the Tigers excited to see what is in store for next season! Sophia supplied two great swims on Friday and placed in the B-final for the 200 Freestyle, finishing 15th overall. Maddox Spence swam a best time of 24.58 in the 50 Freestyle on Friday, but it wasn't enough to get him into the top 16. However, Maddox still competed on Saturday as a part of the 200 Freestyle Relay, giving his team another 24.81! Sophomore Kirra Martin had arguably her best meet of the year with some incredible swims on Friday night, dropping 3 seconds in the 200 IM to A-final and another second to B-final in the 100 Backstroke! Kirra Martin left College Station with a new best in the 200 IM at 2:20.67 and a best in the 100 Back in finals at a 1:01.45! Freshman Ema Whitzel, Wyatt Nelson, Micah Rodriguez, and Charlie Burns also got their first taste of Regional competition. Ema Whitzel B-finaled in both of her events and played a major role on the two Girls' team relays that are headed to State! Wyatt Nelson also competed in the B-final for the 500 Freestyle and was a part of the 200 Freestyle and 400 Freestyle Relays that placed 11th and 12th, respectively! Micah Rodriguez dropped massive amounts of time in both his 200 IM and 500 Freestyle on Friday, but unfortunately didn't make the top 16 for Finals. Micah was still given the opportunity to compete on Saturday, as a part of the 400 Freestyle relay, giving his team a 58 second 100 Freestyle! Charlie Burns was also in the same boat, dropping a full 1.5 seconds in the 100 Breaststroke, but just missing out on some Saturday swimming. Overall, it was an incredible meet where our Tigers showed up and showed out in a massive way! We all can't wait to see what our swimmers will accomplish in two weeks as they take on the UIL-5A State Championships!


-Girls' 200 Freestyle:
Lili Nelson finished 3rd with a 1:56.51
Ema Whitzel finished 10th with a 2:09.11
Sophia Detert finished 15th with a 2:11.92

-Boys' 200 Freestyle:
Addison Richardson finished 8th with a 1:49.29

-Girls' 200 IM:
Kirra Martin finished 8th with a 2:29.87

-Girls' 50 Freestyle:
Zee Gingerich finished 5th with a 25.35
Olivia Brillhart finished 8th with a 26.10

-Girls' 100 Butterfly:
Ema Whitzel finished 13th with a 1:07.36

-Girls' 100 Freestyle:
Zee Gingerich finished 5th with a 55.59

-Boys' 100 Freestyle:
Raef Airhart finished 14th with a 52.21

-Girls' 500 Freestyle:
Lili Nelson finished 2nd with a 5:14.34 and automatically qualified for the UIL-5A State Championship!

-Boys' 500 Freestyle:
Addison Richardson claimed his first ever Regional title, leading the way with a 4:46.17 and automatically qualifying for the UIL-5A State Championship!
Wyatt Nelson finished 12th with a 5:18.01

-Girls' 200 Freestyle Relay (Lili Nelson, Zee Gingerich, Ema Whitzel, Olivia Brillhart) finished 3rd with a 1:42.81

-Boys' 200 Freestyle Relay (Addison Richardson, Wyatt Nelson, Maddox Spence, Raef Airhart) finished 11th with a 1:40.28

-Girls' 100 Backstroke:
Olivia Brillhart finished 8th with a 1:02.82
Kirra Martin finished 9th with a 1:01.45

-Boys' 100 Backstroke:
Raef Airhart finished 16th with a 59.91

-Girls' 400 Freestyle Relay (Lili Nelson, Zee Gingerich, Ema Whitzel, Olivia Brillhart) finished 4th with a 3:45.49

-Boys' 400 Freestyle Relay (Addison Richardson, Wyatt Nelson, Micah Rodriguez, Raef Airhart) finished 12th with a 3:42.52

SCORES:

Girls:
1. Cedar Park-365
2. A&M Consolidated-350
3. Leander-254
4. BELTON-178
5. Leander Rouse-167
6. Georgetown-160
7. Lake Belton-128
8. Lake Creek-122
9. Liberty Hill-112
10. Hendrickson-104
11. Montgomery-83
12. Brenham-45
13. Glenn-32
14. Pflugerville-25
15. Chaparral-17
16. Ellison-14

Boys:
1. Georgetown-364
2. A&M Consolidated-320
3. Leander-251
4. Cedar Park-214
5. Rouse-163
6. Lake Creek-150
7. Lake Belton-135
8. Hendrickson-94
9. Weiss-88
10. Montgomery-76
11. Pflugerville-63
12. BELTON-62
13. Chaparral-41
14. Glenn-39
15. Brenham-24
15. East View-24
17. Liberty Hill-19