Houllier still top swimmer in West Virginia

FORMER national swimmer Matthew Houllier retained the title as Best Male Swimmer at the West Virginia Intercollegiate Conference Championships in Ohio, USA recently.

The 21-year-old student of the Wheeling Jesuit University shared the accolade with schoolmate Paul Morgan after recording victories in the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley. The ex-St Mary’s College student will return to the pool next month for the NCAA Championships where he will participate in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly races. Houllier is the holder of ten national long course records during his days at the Marlins Swim Club in Westmoorings. Among his records, in the 11-12 age group, are the 800-metre freestyle in nine minutes 34.53 seconds and the 1,500m freestyle in 18 minutes 52.63 seconds.

His other national best times were set in the nine-ten age group — 50m free (29.03 seconds), 100m free (1:03.99), 200m free (2:23.87), 50m backstroke (34.25 sec), 100m backstroke (1:16.05), 50m butterfly (30.53 sec), 100m butterfly (1:12.24) and 200m individual medley (2:38.88).