TAMPA — Although they are based in different parts of the city, the Jesuit boys and Academy of the Holy Names girls swim teams practice together.
They also win together, a lot.
Saturday at the Steinbrenner Aquatic Center, those two squads shared in yet another victory by winning their respective titles at the Class 2A, District 8 meet. For the Tigers boys, it was their 15th straight title, and for the Jaguars girls it was their fifth in a row.
"I love it; the electricity of going back and forth," said Bill Shaffer, who coaches both teams. "I preach one team, one family."
Jesuit's boys scored 554 points to easily outdistance runnerup King (330.5 points) and third-place Hillsborough (257).
"The well's looking kind of dry for the boys and every year we come up with something," Shaffer said. "This year's districts on the boys side is a little deeper than it's been."
Jesuit swept the top three diving spots, with Dart Hutson (411.05) in first, followed by Derek Paige (338.05) and Justin Ewing (274.60).
The Tigers had the winning 200 medley relay, consisting of Thompson Marston, Austin Sellers, Trevor Schaettle and Kent Kimura. And Ben Parker added a victory in the 500 free.
For the girls, Holy Names totaled 612, nearly doubling the output of runnerup Sickles (327). Robinson (221) took third.
"The girls, we are sitting exactly where we need to be," Shaffer said.
The Jaguars racked up nine victories while Jesuit led the boys with five wins. Robinson was right behind with four.
Dual individual winners for Holy Names were: Alex Nuyianes (200-yard individual medley, 500 freestyle) and Tori Litschgi (50 free, 100 free).
Robinson standout John Nolte won the 50 free and 100 free, as well as swimming the anchor legs of the winning 200 free and 400 free relays.
Largo placed seventh and Gibbs ninth in the girls meet, while Gibbs took eighth and Largo 11th in the boys meet. Divers Sydney Wyatt and Krysta Postlethwaite were the top finishers for Gibbs, taking second (282.75) and third (240.65), respectively.