STATE SWIMMERS
Wilkens claims gold; set for 3rd state trip

State qualifiers Brittany Wilkens and Phillip Shafer will represent Whitehouse in Austin on Feb. 22- 23.

Brittany Wilkens has earned her third trip to the state swimming meet, winning two gold medals at regionals.

Phillip Shafer will join her in Austin on Feb. 22-23. Shafer is competing in his first state meet after breaking his leg last year.

Wilkens is seeded second in the 100 breaststroke after winning regional with a time 1:07.65. She also brought home gold in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:13.39.

Shafer placed second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.77.

Top place finishers in all events automatically advance, followed by the eight best times from around the state.

The Whitehouse girls team finished sixth overall out of 18 competing teams in District 12-4A. The boys team placed seventh.

Other WH results were:

Men 200 Medley Relay: sixth place, 1:52.37 (Andrew Drott, Will Post, Nathan Fulps, Phillip Shafer)

Men 200 IM: Nathan Fulps, fourth place, 2:08.89

Women 100 butterfly: Nikki Fulps, fourth place, 1:02.91

Women 100 breaststroke: Nikki Fulps 5th 1:10.53

Men 100 Breaststroke: Nathan Fulps, sixth place, 1:06. 47.

Wilkens finished sixth in the 200 IM at last year's deciding meet, earning All-State status in the event.

The senior is headed to Centenary College, where she will join 2007 Whitehouse graduate and state medalist Natalie Holcomb on the swimming team.