The La Porte High School Swim Season began last Wednesday with a home meet against Barbers Hill High School. La Porte is fortunate to be returning some key swimmers for the 2025-2026 swim season.

Junior Jake Gazaw is coming back for another year and was the only swimmer last year to qualify for the Region 5 5A Swimming Championships in an individual event, the 500-yard Freestyle. Jake is aiming to improve his time in the 500-yard Freestyle to under six minutes. Last year, he was very close with a time of 6:04.41.

Junior Jaime Reyes is trying out a new event, the 200-yard Individual Medley. This event involves all four legal strokes: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle. Jaime has been working very hard on this challenging event.

Junior Lucas Prigmore is seeking to improve his times in the 50 and 100-yard Freestyle and continue developing as an anchor for the relay teams.

Ean Lopez, another Junior, hopes to improve his 100-yard Backstroke time by 15 seconds and bring his 50-yard Freestyle time below 30 seconds. He is close to achieving both goals.

Natalie Chavez is returning for her Sophomore year after facing a setback due to an injury. She is looking to make progress in the 50-yard Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, and possibly the 100 Breaststroke.

Senior Alexandra Pilkerton has decided to focus more on long-distance events. Last year, she competed in the 500-yard Freestyle and improved her time by over 20 seconds. She now has her sights set on the 200 and 500-yard Freestyle events for the 2025-2026 season.

Isabella Huerta, Coach Stewart's first four-year swimmer, has been a vital member of the team for the past four years. She will continue to compete in the 50-yard Freestyle, 100-yard Freestyle, and the 200-yard and 400-yard Freestyle Relays.

The new additions to the swim team are going to provide some depth and support to the already strong roster. Julina Michel is a foreign exchange student from Germany will mainly do the 100 yard Butterfly, 100 yard Backstroke, and the 200 yard Medley and 400 yard Freestyle Relays. Freshman Nellie Ortiz will step into the roll of a distance swimmer and swim the 200 yard Freestyle, 500 yard Freestyle, 400 yard Freestyle Relay. Skylir Taylor is another Freshman that will provide speed in the 50 yard Freestyle and the 100 yard Breaststroke and both the 200 yard Medley and 200 yard Freestyle Relays