Nacogdoches High School’s Livia Whitaker finished fifth in the state in the girls 100-yard butterfly race at the Class UIL 5A State Swimming and Diving meet at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center at the University of Texas.
The sophomore’s time of 56.85 seconds in the Championship Final was just .26 seconds behind fourth place and .36 seconds behind third. The sophomore had advanced to the final after posting a time of 57.38 on Friday during the preliminaries.
Junior Grant Copen finished 12th overall in the state in the boys 100 breaststroke. Grant’s time of 58.92 in the Consolation Finals is a new school record.
It was the 25th straight year Nacogdoches High School had swimmers qualify for the state meet, the last 22 with Coach Carrie Scroggins at the helm.
Nacogdoches also had three relay teams qualify for the state meet: The girls 200 medley relay (Livia, Miki Puffer, Jocelyne Lopez and Pepper Hill), boys 200 medley relay (Clayton Coffee, Grant,, Jack Stafford and Ryan Bowyer) and the boys 400 freestyle relay (Clayton, Owen Allen, Jack and Ryan).
