Luke Orr ’26, Tyler Sandrock ‘24, Max Kaase ’23, and Benjamin Thoede ’24 led an armada of talent, skill, and superlative results as St. Thomas captured its eighth consecutive TAPPS Division I East Region championship at the Univesity of Houston Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.

Eagle Swimming’s big four closed out a dominant day of performances by staking the gold medal in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Earlier, Kaase and Sandrock opened the event with Ryan Gentile ‘24 and anchor Owen Sweeney ‘25 in banking silver in the 200 medley relay. Thoede then anchored the second-place result in the 200 freestyle relay that included Orr, Ryan Bordas ’25, and Sweeney.

The valuable relay results propelled St. Thomas to a convincing 187 team points to easily outdistance The Village School (151) and Tomball Concordia Lutheran (83).

Orr earned gold in the 500 freestyle and silver in the 200 medley. Sandrock seized silver in the 50 free and 100 butterfly. Kaase took second in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 100 fly. Thoede cashed gold in the 100 free and fourth in the 50 free.

Gentile also raced to silver medals in the 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle.

Other notable results include …

200 Freestyle
Zach Haine ’25 4th
Nathan Ridgway ’24 5th
Aaron Noyola ’24 7th
Will Prout ’26 8th

200 Yard Individual Medley
Bordas 4th
Matthew Healey ’25 5th
Alex Erickson ’23 6th

50 Yard Freestyle
Sweeney 5th
Samuel Thoede ’26 7th

100 Yard Butterfly
Andres Levaro ’26 6th

100 Yard Freestyle
Noyola 5th
Thomas Higginbotham ’24 7th

500 Yard Freestyle
Haine 2nd
Luke Burke ’24 6th
Ridgway

100 Yard Backstroke
Burke 5th
Prout 6th
Healey 7th

100 Yard Breaststroke
Sweeney 4th
Bordas 4th
Erickson 7th

The fourth season with head coach VanArthur Jones continues the program’s recent wave to elite status within the top tier of the Texas ranks. Eagle state qualifiers advance to the Division I championships February 8 at the Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio.

St. Thomas has claimed consecutive runner-up finishes and three in five years to pair with the Eagles’ breakthrough state crown in 2019 and the successful title defense in 2020.

Eagle Fight Never Dies!