Sophomore Sophianne Cortes proudly represented Saginaw High School at the UIL 5A State Swimming Meet on Feb 23-24 at the University of Texas at Austin's swimming center. This marked Cortes' second appearance at the State level, having qualified as the 5A Region 1 champion in both the 50-yard Freestyle and the 100-yard Butterfly. Coach Giles commended Cortes stating, "She is not only an outstanding athlete; she's also an amazing team leader who takes just as much pride in teaching beginning swimmers as she does in winning races."

Cortes secured third place in her prelims heats in both the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Butterfly, earning her spots in the 5A State Finals as seventh and eighth seeds, respectively. Demonstrating improvement from her previous year, she finished eighth in the 50-yard Freestyle with a time of 24.04 seconds, surpassing her 10th-place finish last year. Additionally, Cortes placed seventh in the 100-yard Butterfly, setting a new Saginaw High School record with a time of 57.31 seconds.

"This year was very exciting for me," said Cortes. "I'm happy that I was able to do better than last year, and I hope next year to place even higher and maybe even earn a medal." Coach Giles expressed that "her stellar results at the State Championships are the culmination of years of hard work." We, alongside Coach Giles, look forward to watching her represent Rough Rider Swimming positively in the next two years. Congratulations Sophianne!