Carl Albert boys trying to win back to back titles

By Jeff Harrison
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The Carl Albert boys swim team lost key pieces from their state championship squad last season.

But the outlook remains the same for the new year.

“The expectation is that we will be in the hunt, just as we were last year,” said coach Josh Norman. “It’ll be a dog fight for all of 5A this year.”

The Titans dominated last year with incredible depth. They had four swimmers qualify for state in every event and won the state title by a 149-point margin. This year, Norman believes the team will rely on their speed at the top of their lineup, while developing depth.

“This will be a team that breaks a lot of records,” Norman said. “The record board is going to take a hit from this team. We’re going to shift from overwhelming depth to a little more of a pure speed team in our top two or three swimmers.”

Some of the top returning swimmers from last year include Ridge Thornton, Reece Rushing, Andrew Campbell and Kaleb Smith, who each placed at state last year.

The Titans feel added pressure to repeat as state champions, but say the experience also showed them what it takes to win.

“We feel more pressure but at the same time it’s a momentum boost knowing that we did before,” said Rushing. “We have high hopes that we can do it again.”

Campbell said they’re already off to a strong start.

“We lost a lot of guys last year, but we’re working on building connections with everyone early and our practices are going well,” he said. “We have a few returners that went to state last year, but we’ll need the younger guys to step up. I’m really excited and think we’ll do great things.”

Del City’s TJ Townsend is also looking to improve off last year’s performance. He was the school’s only swimmer to qualify for the state meet where placed in the top 10 in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly.

“I’d like to have more of a team, but I still feel like a part of the Mid-Del swim team,” he said. “We all practice, lift weights and compete together. We just don’t score points together.”

Townsend also competed in relays last year but said Del City doesn’t have enough boys out this year.

Finding a practice space has been a challenge since Rose State College closed its pool a couple of years ago. Mid-Del swimmers are practicing at the University of Oklahoma this year, which offers much more space.

“It’s a lot different because we have so much space,” said Thornton. “Our lanes aren’t crowded, and we can breathe.”

“I’m not saying it was an excuse before, but now that we have the OU pool, we don’t have any excuses,” said Smith.

The Mid-Del swimmers opened the season last Saturday with the Altus Invitational. They will compete in Edmond on Thursday.