Young Women's Leadership Academy is in the first year of competing in athletics and it might have found its identity as a swimming school.
YWLA had an impressive debut as a program at the Midland Invitational swim and dive meet on Friday and Saturday, winning four events out of 12 while competing against mostly Class 6A schools at City of Midland Aquatics.
Elizabeth Bitnerowska gave the YWLA swim program its first win in school history when she took first in Saturday's 200-yard IM final with a time of 2 minutes, 17.37 seconds.
Later in the meet, Cora Ledgewood gave YWLA another victory by taking first in the 50 freestyle (25.86 seconds).
YWLA also showed its depth by winning two relays.
The YWLA 200 free relay team of Bitnerowska, Katelyn Gomez, Olivia Muscroft and Ledgewood edged Class 6A San Angelo Central with a time of 1:43.70 compared to 1:43.92 swam by the Lady Cats.
YWLA ended the meet in dominant fashion when the 400 free relay team of Muscroft, Harper Diaz, Ledgewood and Bitnerowska easily outdistanced Class 6A program El Paso Franklin (3:57.61) with a winning time of 3:50.64.
"San Angelo is very loaded on the girls' side this year," Midland ISD swim and dive coach Steve Flato said. "It just shows you how tough and how much depth that YWLA has to be able to beat two relays like that. I'm sure people around the state people will start looking and know that these girls will be contenders for the district championship and on up. It will be interesting."
YWLA had four second-place finishes as Muscoft was runner-up in both the 50 free (26.03) and 100 free (57.42); Bitnerowska came in second in the 100 butterfly (1:02.27) and Gomez was second in the 100 backstroke (1:05.39).
"Being our first meet, I think we did phenomenal," Bitnerowska said. "We had the first seed coming in on (400 free relay) prelims and we demolished in finals. So yes, I think we're doing really good as a new team."
Flato says we will know more about YWLA's potential when it competes with the state's best Class 4A-and-below programs at the Texas Interscholastic Coaches Association's 4A Invitational, Nov. 22-23 in San Antonio.
"After that meet, it's going to be really telling of what is going on," Flato said.
YWLA will compete in the District 2-4A Championships against Big Spring, Fort Stockton, Greenwood, Monahans, Pecos, Seminole and Stanton, Jan. 18, 2025, in Monahans.
"After seeing how we performed at the Midland Invitational, I really think our girls and our school is going to take Midland to 4A-and-under state (meet) this year and possibly podium," said Ledgewood, YWLA's team captain.
One of the reasons why YWLA is so competitive already is because of experience as Ledgewood and Cora Retzer competed for Midland High and Bitnerowska and Diaz swam for Legacy last year under previous rules that allowed YWLA students to compete for the big schools depending on their attendance zones. Those rules have changed, which has given YWLA a loaded swim team in its first year of athletics.
"I think our school is going to be a big inspiration not for just our younger girls at YWLA, but any girls that want to pursue athletics," Ledgewood said. "I think today we really showed Midland and our school and everybody what we are capable of doing as young women."
Team standings - 1. San Angelo Central, 868; 2. Legacy, 607; 3. El Paso Eastwood, 540; 4. El Paso Franklin, 430; 5. Midland High, 223; 6. Midland Classical, 84; 7. Midland Christian, 45; 8. Trinity, 44; 9. Odessa High, 36
200-yard medley relay - 1. El Paso Eastwood (Liam Caldera Flores, Alex Escalante, Jeremiah Siebert, Noah Salem), 1:43.62; 2. San Angelo Central A, 1:47.96; 3. Legacy, 1:49.21
200 free - 1. Luis Villalobos, Trinity, 1:47.15; 2. Oscar Buitrago, Midland Christian, 1:51.70; 3. Flores, 1:54.17
200 IM - 1. Ethan Hammontree, Midland Classical, 1:56.73; 2. Gavin Rochelle, Legacy, 2:02.77; 3. David Sites, Legacy, 2:02.91
50 free - 1. George Workman, Legacy, 21.85; 2. David Fuentes, Legacy, 22.01; 3. Jake Elliott, San Angelo Central, 24.03
1-meter diving - 1. Barrett Jacoby, Midland High, 235.45; 2. Reid Tomlin, Legacy, 222.85; 3. Hudson Tomlin, Legacy, 203.85
100 fly - 1. Sites, 54.01; 2. Truman Moore, Midland High, 55.69; 3. Orlando Waters, Midland Classical, 57.16
100 free - 1. Buitrago, 50.09; 2. James Ford, San Angelo Central, 52.52; 3. Chase Peach, El Paso Franklin, 54.65
500 free - 1. Workman, 4:53.88; 2. Mauricio Gonzalez, El Paso Eastwood, 5:10.94; 3. Braden Harvill, Legacy, 5:32.85
200 free relay - 1. Legacy (Fuentes, Rochelle, Sites, Workman), 1:29.00; 2. El Paso Eastwood, 1:34.04; 3. San Angelo Central, 1:36.04
100 back - Flores, 57.95; 2. Ryan Chandler, Legacy, 58.45; 3. Surkhab Virdi, El Paso Eastwood, 1:04.63
100 breast - 1. Rochelle, 1:02.66; 2. Hammontree, 1:03.84; 3. Villalobos, 1:04.68
400 free relay - 1. San Angelo Central A (Ford, Elliott, Cody Williams, Fischer Russwurm), 3:35.06; 2. Legacy, 3:39.32; 3. San Angelo Central B, 3:47.92
Girls
Team standings - 1. San Angelo Central, 960; 2. El Paso Franklin, 643; 3. El Paso Eastwood, 523; 4. YWLA, 459; 5. Legacy, 240; 6. Midland High, 105; 7. Trinity, 35; 8. Odessa High, 8
200 medley relay - 1. San Angelo Central A (Mackenzie Blunier, Elsa Reel, Mallorie Manning, Zoey Moore), 1:53.35; 2. San Angelo Central B, 2:01.86; 3. Legacy, 2:02.05
200 free - 1. Reel, 1:59.22; 2. Nadia Phelps, El Paso Franklin, 2:03.01; 3. Blunier, 2:12.29
200 IM - 1. Elizabeth Bitnerowska, YWLA, 2;17.37; 2. Hannah Hava, El Paso Eastwood, 2:23.41; 3. Peyton Brandt, San Angelo Central, 2:23.41
50 free - 1. Cora Ledgewood, YWLA, 25.86; 2. Oliva Muscroft, YWLA, 26.03; 3. Mallorie Manning, San Angelo Central, 26.33
1-meter diving - Risa Soda, Legacy, 232.50; 2. Karina Granado, El Paso Eastwood, 193.75; 3. Madyson Haynie, Midland High, 192.75
100 fly - 1. Manning, 1:00.82; 2. Bitnerowska, 1:02.27; 3. Malory Vincent, San Angelo Central, 1:07.15
100 free - 1. Lainey Gloden, Legacy, 55.87; 2. Muscroft, 57.42; 3. Brandt, 58.70
500 free - 1. Phelps, 5:41.24; 2. Lauren Chandler, Legacy, 5:46.48; 3. Maddie McBrayer, Trinity, 5:46.59
200 free relay - 1. YWLA (Bitnerowska, Katelynn Gomez, Muscroft, Ledgewood), 1:43.70; 2. San Angelo Central, 1:43.92; 3. Legacy, 1:49.94
400 free relay - 1. YWLA (Muscroft, Harper Diaz, Ledgewood, Bitnerowska), 3:50.64; 2. El Paso Franklin, 3:57.61; 3. San Angelo Central A, 3:58.01