Dulles junior Madeline Locus claimed the Fort Bend area’s only gold medal at the Class 5A Swimming & Diving State Championships last week at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin.

Locus won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.18 seconds, narrowly holding off a talented field filled with Houston-area swimmers.

Making the win more impressive, Locus finished behind Cy Creek’s Kathryn Eckhart, Klein’s Erica Dittmer and Clear Lake’s Ellen Lobb in the preliminaries.

“It was so great because she was seeded fourth going into the finals and I knew that she would pull through and get first place,” Dulles coach Jessica Tanner said. “It was really exciting.”

Locus also medaled in the 100 free, finishing second in 50.17 seconds. Austin Westlake’s Samantha Tucker (49.83) won the gold.

The two state medals were the first for Locus, who was part of the Lady Vikings’ 400 free relay that finished 12th last year in her first appearance in Austin.

And the gold was the first for a Dulles swimmer in recent memory.

“It was a very big deal,” Tanner said.

The junior already was enjoying a breakout season before going to state. She set a pool record in the 50 free earlier in the season, then set a Region VI-5A record in the 50 free (23.32) in the regional meet.

That mark, along with regional gold in the 100 free, earned her VI-5A swimmer of the meet honors.

“It seemed liked she came into her own this season in her events,” Tanner said. “And her best events are the 50 free and the 100 free, but she does very well in the other events (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke) also.”

Expectations will be higher next season, and not just for her to defend her title in the 50 free.

Tucker, who set the national record in the 100 free with a 48.53 at the 2009 state meet, is a senior, so she won’t be back next year, opening the door for Locus, who will look to under 50 seconds.

“She’s put a lot of high expectations on herself, and the gold medalist in the 100 is a senior so she’s putting expectations on herself to receive the gold medal next year for the 100 free,” Tanner said.

“And she just wants to improve her personal records in all her strokes.”

Clements’ Landeck bronzed at state

Clements sophomore Romy Landeck brought home the only other medal in the area, a bronze in the 100 breast.

Landeck (1:03.11) finished seven hundredths of a second off her preliminary time, which had her seeded third going into the final. Memorial’s Catherine Wagner (1:02.14) won and Klein’s Erica Dittmer (1:02.38) was second.

The Lady Rangers’ Elise Kaufman was seventh in the 1-meter dive and Jordan Hancock was eighth in the 500 free. The girls team finished 11th overall.

Mustangs earn two in Austin

Lamar Consolidated swimmers earned two medals at the Class 4A state meet.

Junior Matt McKinnerney, who was the top diver at the Region VI-4A meet, where he won gold, claimed a bronze medal in the 1-meter dive, scoring 410.05 points. Waco Midway’s Will Chandler (445.95) won.

Senior Kaitlyn Layne won silver in the 100 butterfly with a 57.15, finishing behind Midway’s Emily Neubert (56.06). Layne was the regional girls swimmer of the meet after winning four golds.

Lady Mustangs swimmers placed in the top six in three other events, with Layne finishing fifth in the 100 backstroke, and the 200 and 400 free relays taking sixth.

Holly Heussner added a ninth-place finish in the diving event, helping the Lamar girls place just inside the top 10 in the team standings. They were ninth with 100 points.

Foster finds success

The Foster boys 200 free relay team of Nathan Ward, Price Taylor, Gabe D’Antoni and Luke Tomas claimed the area’s only other medal.

They took bronze with a 1:28.21, which actually left them tied for third with Frisco Centennial. Kingwood Park won in 1:25.27 and Texarkana Texas (1:27.90) was second.

The Falcons were 11th in the boys team standings with 63 points.