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April 17, 2008

UT-PB signee Mills heads Dogs all-state swimming list

By Tom Halliburton

NEDERLAND -- Besides owning four school records, Kyle Mills is enabling his swimming pool efforts to pay for his college education.

  The 18-year-old Nederland senior signed a letter of intent Thursday to accept a swimming scholarship at UT-Permian Basin in Odessa.

  It's the first such scholarship for a Nederland swimmer since the duo of Scott Cessac (TCU) and Jenny White (Arkansas) earned such honors for the Bulldogs in 1999, according to Dogs swimming coach Julie Johnson.

  That's one of two special swimming awards recently secured by Mills. Kyle and four other NHS swimmers were chosen to the Class 4A all-state swimming team, chosen by TISCA (the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association).

  Mills was a first-team all-state selection for recording a Nederland school-record time of 53.02 in the 100-yard butterfly. Mills also displayed his sprinter's prowess in clocking a 21.92 in the 50-yard freestyle.

  "The fact that he broke that 100-yard butterfly record three different times says something about the kind of season Kyle had, too," Johnson said Thursday at a signing ceremony for Mills attended by all three local television stations.

  There's no doubt those other relay members will miss him, too. The quartet of Mills, Nick Hoelzer, Patrick Wilson and Joshua Sonnier combined for a 1:44.99 in the 200-yard medley relay, earning a second-team all-state berth. An honorable mention all-state choice in 2007, Mills also was part of an honorable all-state relay foursome in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the same other three swimmers -- Hoelzer, Wilson, and Sonnier.

  There's another all-stater on Nederland's squad who will miss Mills next winter, too. She's junior Samantha Wickizer, a second-team all-state choice in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle.

  Kyle's parents, Stephen and Sherry Mills, were at NHS for the signing ceremony. They can be mighty proud of this youngster who was "just in it to have fun."

  "I wasn't thinking of scholarships or anything when I started swimming competitively in the seventh grade," he said. "But I placed in regionals in both of my events (the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly)."

  Mills (6-0, 165) will be missed by Wickizer because the co-captains of this year's team tended to push one another to better performances.

  "I don't know what's going to happen but I know I'm going to miss him," Samanta said. "Me and him push each other in practice."

 

 

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