By Grant Barrett, Ad Astra Radio
EMPORIA, Kan. – The McPherson Area Swimmers are beginning to heat up at just the right time. On Thursday, they claimed the top spot for the third-straight meet, finishing over 200 points above 11 other schools.
“This was a good meet for us.” noted Head Coach Danica Brunk, adding, “There were a lot of best times and some really big time drops as well.” McPherson took first in four events, two of which were individual events, as Adyson Wiens was first in the 50 freestyle, and Danica Brunk was first in the 100 butterfly.
The two were joined by Claire Schmidt and Clarea Williams to take first in the 200 freestyle, then Brunk and Wiens were joined by Gracy Hubbard and Bree Pickerell to finish first in the 400 freestyle. The 200 Medley Relay team of Adrien Lochard, Claire Schmidt, Bree Pickerell and Clarea Williams would take second.
In the individual events, Schmidt would finish second in the 100 backstroke, and would take fifth in the 50 freestyle, less than half a second behind Olivia Bengston who took third. Pickerell was third in the 500 freestyle, and took fifth in the 100 backstroke, followed by Gracy Hubbard and Lochard, finishing sixth and seventh.
Other notable performances came from Danica Brunk, who was second in the 200 IM, while Ella Schrag took fourth. Schrag and Jordan Vanderhoof would take fourth and fifth in the 100 butterfly. In the 100 freestyle Adyson Wiens would finish third, followed by Clarea Williams for fourth, and Adrien Lochard was seventh, all within five seconds of one another.
The McPherson-area swimmers will conclude the regular season on Tuesday, as they’re scheduled to return to Hutchinson for a meet beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Below are the team and individual results from Thursday’s Emporia Invitational:
1-McPherson-495
2-Garden City High School-283
3-Emporia High School-292
4-Topeka-Seaman-283
5-Wichita Collegiate School-182
6-Topeka-179
7-Independence High School-167
8-Labette County High School-113
9-Coffeyville Field Kindley High-83
10-Classical School of Wichita-70
11-The Independent School-41
12-Topeka West-27
200 Medley Relay
2nd-Lochard, Schmidt, Pickerell, Williams-2:09.37
9th-Rauchholz, Heskett, Vanderhoof, Schrag-2:30.43
200 Freestyle
6th-Gracy Hubbard-2:18.62
7th-Olivia Bengtson-2:28.53
9th-Jordan Vanderhoof-2:34.19
200 IM
2nd-Danica Brunk-2:22.72
4th-Ella Schrag-2:47.65
7th-Emily Heskett-2:53.53
50 Freestyle
1st-Adyson Wiens-27.63
3rd-Olivia Bengtson-28.42
5th-Claire Schmidt-28.98
39th-Sofia Podesta-38.34
41st-Lena Rauchholz-38.96
100 Butterfly
1st-Danica Brunk-1:02.12
4th-Ella Schrag-1:14.80
5th-Jordan Vanderhoof-1:16.60
100 Freestyle
3rd-Adyson Wiens-1:01.11
4th-Clarea Williams-1:03.32
7th-Adrien Lochard-1:05.52
34th-Sofia Podesta-1:27.75
42nd-Lena Rauchholz-1:30.79
500 Freestyle
3rd-Bree Pickerell-5:51.64
200 Freestyle Relay
1st-Wiens, Schmidt, Williams, Brunk-1:48.96
6th-Bengtson, Hubbard, Heskett, Schrag-1:58.12
100 Backstroke
5th-Bree Pickerell-1:09.91
6th-Gracy Hubbard-1:11.66
7th-Adrien Lochard-1:13.14
100 Breaststroke
2nd-Claire Schmidt-1:20.38
7th-Clarea Williams-1:24.14
12th-Emily Heskett-1:28.61
400 Freestyle Relay
1st-Wiens, Hubbard, Pickerell, Brunk-4:00.78
5th-Bengtson, Lochard, Podesta, Vanderhoof-4:48.26
