Mater Lakes girls’ swimmers secure first state title; Belen boys finish second

Mater Lakes Academy’s performance at the 2024 swimming state championships performance was historic.

It set the tone for the team’s state championship in 2025.

The Bears’ boys won gold for the first time last season, and this year, it was the girls’ turn to bring home first place for the first time. Mater Lakes’ girls scored 240.5 points, pulling away from Tampa Academy of the Holy Names’ 180-point effort for the Class 2A title.

“It’s definitely inspirational as a coach to see that all of the people in your program are as dedicated as the effort and time that you put in,” Mater Lakes coach Sarah Smith said. “They’re going above and beyond, and we’ve been working really hard this year.”

Smith pointed to the amount of talent the team has right now, specifically mentioning sophomore Jia Amores’ performance at the Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training center in Ocala Friday evening.

Amores defended her state title in the 100-yard butterfly with a 52.58 and earned her first gold in the 100-yard backstroke with a 55.35. She also anchored the team’s first-place-winning 400-yard freestyle relay.

Amores’ contributions helped lift the girls’ team to its first state title, something she relished in the moment.

“I wanted to cry; it felt so surreal,” Amores said. “We know what we have to do, the work we have to put in to get to this point in the season. We were all super focused.”

The team didn’t earn gold just because of Amores, though. Sophomore Melissa Ramos earned third in the 200 free with a 1:50.63 and tied for second in the 100 free with a 51.85. Senior Anais Gedeon claimed second with a 23.58 in the 50 free.

The girls and boys relays both stepped up as well. The girls earned second in the 200 medley relay (1:49.20) and first in the 200 free relay (1:37.20) and 400 free relay (3:32.09). The boys earned first in the 400 free relay (3:07.99), second in the 200 free relay (1:26.63) and fourth in the 200 medley relay (1:36.50).

“We all did the best we could,” Ramos said. “We all had to give our best. And then we did it, andwe got the result (we were looking for). We got golds.”

The Belen Jesuit boys (217) came in second behind Jacksonville Bishop Kenny (244.5). Belen Jesuit head coach Andrés De Angulo said the boys delivered on the game plan and often even outswam their seeds.

“We’ve had an eye on this meet for a while,” De Angulo said. “We just wanted to come out here and give ourselves the best chance to do our best, and we gave it a run. We came a little short of first, but second place is pretty good.”

Belen Jesuit was headlined by the De Angulo brothers, senior Chris and sophomore, Alec. Chris De Angulo took first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 56.14, beating second place by 0.14 seconds. Alec De Angulo earned gold with a 1:52.49 in the 200 individual medley.

Chris De Angulo ends his high school career with an individual gold and a team silver. His gold in the breaststroke was one of the best finishes of the night, and he knew he was in a tight race for gold. He said he prides himself on his last 50 yards, and that’s what helped him earn gold and some valuable points for his team.

“It’s definitely pretty crazy to think that just last year we finished eighth and years before that, we weren’t even finishing in the top 10,” Chris De Angulo said. “To be able to come out here and challenge for that state championship and swim amazing in different events… to have that sort of feeling is fantastic.”

Alec De Angulo still has a couple more years with the team, and the hope is he can build on the momentum he and the team now have. He would love to win the 100 backstroke in the future, but the ultimate goal is to continue to work toward a team title.

He said it will be a challenge swimming without his brother, but he’s confident he and the rest of the team can still be successful.

“It’s going to be difficult not swimming with him next year, but I know that I’m going to persevere, and he’s going to eventually persevere in college,” Alec De Angulo said. “The ultimate goal is to come back next year and come back stronger.”