Competing were: (front row, l-r) Brooke Grones, Kayla Mazzeo and Avery Kubecka: (back row) Jonathan Lindley, Bailey Grones, Chae Neimeyer and Jessie Cepak.

The Palacios All-American Swim Team competed against teams from Alvin, Bay City, Conroe, Quillian, Deer Park, Eagle Lake, El Campo, Freeport, Golden Triangle, Lake Jackson, LaPorte, Livingston, Richmond/Rosenberg, Seabrook, South Belt Area All Stars, Texas City, Woodlands, West of Brazos, Wharton, and Angleton.

The Sharks, however, do have winning records against some schools they have played 20 or more times, in addition to Tidehaven, whom they will take a 34-22-5 record when they meet for a record 62nd consecutive year, 5 weeks from this Friday.

Two such teams are the Industrial Cobras and the Goliad Tigers.

Although the Cobras and Sharks have not played an official game in the last 8 years, they did smack leather in 50 games from 1941 thru 2001 and at one time had annual duels for 37 consecutive years (1949 thru 1985).

Those 37 made for the longest consecutive streak with the same opponent for the Sharks other than the 61 years with Tidehaven. In those 37 games, the Sharks prevailed, 20-15, with two tie games.

For the full 50 games, it’s still the Sharks holding the edge, 28-20-2. In addition, the two schools were in the same district for 26 seasons and again it was the Sharks prevailing, 15-10-1. Åt one stretch, Palacios and Industrial were district rivals for 14 straight years, 1962-1975.

Palacios’ largest victory margin came with the 1964 state champions’ 54-0 romp. The Cobras’ biggest margin was 48-2 in 1951.

Perhaps the most exciting “hold onto your hats” game was the last one, in 2001, when the Sharks opened a then 7-game district campaign by rallying in the last 90 seconds for a score then warding off a closing Cobra comeback to pull out a 31-30 win.

In 35 games between the Tigers in 34 seasons from 1934 thru last year (they played twice in 1944), the Sharks hold a 23-12 advantage, with one of Goliad’s wins being a 1-0 forfeit in 1938.

Twenty-one of the games were district contests, the Sharks winning 15 to 6 for Goliad, including that forfeit. As to why Palacios forfeited is not known. It may have been that after winning the 7-scheduled games’ 1938 season opener, the Sharks failed to score in their next five games and may have called it quits without playing the final game— against Goliad.

However, that reason is just speculation.

After a scoreless tie in their first game, the Sharks and Bobcats became district rivals from 1944 thru 1955, with Palacios winning all 9 games (they played twice in 1944. They were again district mates from 1971 thru 1979, but this time the Bobcats won 6 of the 8 games.