UIL District 21-6A Championship
- January 24, 2025
- Galena Park ISD Natatorium, Houston, Texas
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Timed Finals
- Full Results on Meet Mobile: “2025 District 21-6A Championship”
Atascocita High School senior John Simmons grabbed four wins in one of Texas’ swimming hotbeds, grabbing a pair of best times in the process.
Simmons, who was originally committed to Texas but swapped that commitment to Texas A&M after the Longhorn coaching change, brought his A-game for the first round of Texas’ three-round post-season series. He announced his commitment to A&M just three days before this district meet.
First he won the 200 free individually in 1:36.38, which was a quarter-second shy of his lifetime, and season, best of 1:36.14 done at the Winter Junior Championships – West meet in December.
That was the only swim of four where he didn’t set a lifetime best. He won the 100 back individually in 46.99, taking .94 seconds off his previous best; swam the leadoff leg of Atascocita’s winning 200 medley relay in a best split of 21.72; and led off Atascocita’s winning 400 free relay with a 43.98.
Atascocita won the 200 medley in a nailbiter over another state power, Kingwood, 1:32.07-1:32.48. While Simmons got the Eagles off to a second-and-a-half lead after 50 yards, Kingwood clawed their way back – with Tyler Tran’s 21.81 butterfly split doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
Atascocita bookended the meet with a dominant 3:06.19 in the 400 free relay that is nearly as fast as their time that earned 11th at state last year.
Simmons was 5th in the 100 fly and 6th in the 200 free at last year’s state meet; his district times in the 200 free were faster than any returning swimmer from last year’s final, while his 100 back is second behind only Junior National Teamer Maximus Williams’ state record of 46.29 from last season.
Rolling forward, Simmons’ 100 back would be 4th on the A&M team this season, his 100 free would be 6th, and his 200 free would be 3rd.
Last year, Atascocita’s boys finished 10th at the state meet while Kingwood finished 4th.
The Kingwood boys have a star senior of their own: Tyler Grafmiller won the 50 free (20.71) and 100 free (45.36) individually and also split 21.33 on Kingwood’s winning 200 free relay.
Final Boys’ Standings (Top 5):
- Atascocita – 188
- Kingwood – 148
- Summer Creek – 112
- North Shore – 44
- Humble – 24
On the girls’ side, longtime state superpower Kingwood dominated the meet with depth, though John’s younger sister Eva Simmons was the top performer individually.
Simmons, a sophomore, won the 200 IM in 2:05.08 ahead of Kingwood’s Christina Donahue (2:05.54) in the best battle of the meet. Donahue led at the 150 yard mark, but a 28.78 closing 50 split led Simmons to the win, title, and lifetime best.
Donahue’s swim was also a lifetime best. She was 17th at last year’s state championship meet.
The Kingwood women graduated several stars from last year’s team that finished 5th at state, so they’ll be counting on depth this year. Their post-season kicked off with several lifetime bests – including a 24.27 in the 50 free from Audrey Kalvaitis (her first time under 25 seconds); a 1:53.87 from Isabelle Ordonez; and a 5:11.47 in the 500 free from Morgan Etter.
Texas high school swimming has three levels: 6A for the biggest schools, 5A for the next-biggest schools, and 4A for the smallest schools (though that’s in relative terms – as the top schools in that class have around 1,300 students).
In the two biggest classifications, 5A and 6A, each classification has 32 districts that are grouped into fours. The top 6 swimmers in each event in each district advance to the 8 Region meets-per-class. The top 2 swimmers in each Region advance to the state meet, ensuring representation from all regions; the next 8 fastest times in each event from across all regions advance as ‘wildcard’ swimmers. Divers qualify 3-per-Region.
In the smallest classification, 4A, up to 16 district meets are held when there are more than 4 entries in any individual or relay event. The top 4 per district advance to each of 4 region meets. From there, the top 2 in each region, plus the next 8 wildcard times from all regions, advance to the state meet.
