NEDERLAND -- Paced by the efforts of Cara Austin, Kylie Borden and Brennan Hebert, the Nederland boys' and girls' swim teams combined for 16 first-place medals in Thursday night's District 20-4A meet.

   Along with their 16 gold medals, Nederland had 10 second place, eight third place, seven fourth place, five fifth place and a pair of sixth place finishes from the 23 events at Central Middle School.

   Those Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs qualified for regionals, Feb. 12-13 in Magnolia.

   Austin, Borden and Hebert each took gold in two individual races as well as two relays. The squad of Emily Bourg, Elizabeth Margolis, Austin and Borden opened the meet with a gold prize in the girls 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:15.30.

   Later Austin, Borden and Bourg were joined by Theresa Nguyen for the girls 200-yard freestyle relay, which Nederland won with a time of 1:59.92

   Austin's individual victories came in the girls 500-yard freestyle. Dropping her seed time from 6:12.28 to 6:10.06, Austin beat the other four swimmers in that heat by six seconds to take gold.

   She also won the 100-yard butterfly, posting a time of 1:17.87.

   Borden topped the field in the 50-yard freestyle (29.66 seconds) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:11.43).

   Meanwhile, Hebert, Patrick Wilson, Bryce Darder and Thomas Kenneth took first place in the boys 200-yard medley relay, finishing with a time of 1:47.66. Hebert, Wilson, Darder and Judice Brady won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:43.30.

   Hebert also won the 100-yard freestyle (51.39 seconds) and the 50-yard freestyle (23.17 seconds).

   Overall, Nederland boys and girls tallied a total of 364 points. Vidor followed with 134, Lumberton picked up 39, LC-M had 36, Ozen finished with 15 and WO-S had nine.

   Nederland girls had 187 points and the boy's team posted 177 points.

   Other top performers for Nederland, Margolis had an individual win in the girls 100-yard backstroke, clocking in at 1:28.50. Olivia Harrington won the girls 200-yard freestyle (2:44.12), Thomas Kenneth won the 200-yard IM (2:15.63), and Patrick Wilson took gold in boys 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.56).

   Also for Nederland, Harrington, Nguyen, Jensyn Hanley, and Tyler Reyes won the girls 400-yard freestyle relay (5:12.18) and Thomas, Brady, John Jeans, and Tyler Daniels won the same event for the boys (4:03.67).

    Nederland coach Julie Johnson said she was more than pleased with what her team accomplished Thursday, adding that most of her swimmers' times either dropped or stayed consistent to their most recent averages.

   "That's always a good sign going into regionals," she explained. "Typically times will drop more at regionals, once we've rested." Johnson also said she expects her team to do pretty well next week.

    LC-M's Alex Dorman won the boys 200-yard freestyle (2:01.95) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.97). Lumberton's Emily McMillon placed first in the girls 200-yard IM (2:39.80). Ozen's Justin Mouton claimed the top medal in the boys 100-yard butterfly (1:01.17). Vidor's Ashley Mann earned gold in the girls 100-yard freestyle (1:07.48). Vidor's Damian Mann coasted to a win in the boys 500-yard freestyle (6:39.96).