Senior
William Savarese capped an impeccable Jesuit Dallas swimming & diving career with a pair of bronze medals at the 2024 University Interscholastic League (UIL) 6A Swimming & Diving Championships on February 24 in Austin, Texas. The University of Michigan signee finished third in the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle as the Rangers added a pair of top-15 finishes in relay race events.
Savarese entered state as one of the top qualifiers in the 200 I.M. and held serve to advance to the final by recording a 1:50.99 in prelims. The senior moved two spots up the leaderboard and landed on the podium by clocking a 1:47.52 in the final, finishing 1.05 seconds ahead of Round Rock Westbrook's Raphael Wang for the bronze. The boys' 200 I.M. final in 6A was historic in its own right as Keller junior Maximus Williamson set a new state and national record with a victorious 1:40.8.
In the 500 free, Savarese was the last qualifier for the championship final with a 4:28.74 in prelims. Savarese dropped over seven seconds from that time in finals, skyrocketing up the standings to third with a 4:21.44, toppling his own program record mark from last season in the process.
The 200 medley relay saw
Jonah Ruhl, Savarese,
Luke Lary and
Sam Kennington record a 1:35.12 to place 13th overall, finishing ahead of El Paso Coronado by 0.13 seconds. In prelims, the 200 medley relay squad recorded a 1:35.76 and held seed in the final. The Ranger quartet earned its way to the state tournament after setting a program record at regionals, securing a bronze medal with a 1:34.67 that broke an 18-year old record.
Jesuit's final event of the 2023-24 season was the 400 free relay, in which the Rangers finished 12th at state. Ruhl, Lary,
Sebastian Suwanda and Savarese followed a 3:07.75 in prelims with a 3:06.54 in finals, edging Austin Anderson H.S. by .51 seconds. Similar to the 200 medley relay, Jesuit's 400 free relay set a school record at regionals with a 3:05.98, toppling the previous mark set in 2022.
The Rangers' successful 2023-24 season included an unblemished, 10-0 dual meet record and a dominant performance at the UIL District 7-6A Championships that awarded the Blue and Gold the 10th district title in program history. In addition, four school records fell during the year; the 200 medley and 400 free relay records at regionals, the 500 free record state and the 200 freestyle record, which was broken by Savarese on January 11 against Frisco Wakeland Frisco Heritage.