Emporia High swimmers, Divers have sights set on State meet
By Michael Ashford
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Though he is just a freshman, Emporia High diver Mason Mounkes knows he only has a little time left to make a lasting impact on the Spartan swimming and diving team.
That’s because after this school year, Mounkes is moving to Texas with his family, where his dad plans to start his own catering service as an entrepreneur.
Mounkes’ will head to Topeka on Friday and Saturday to compete at the State Swimming and Diving Championships with hopes of creating a huge final splash for Emporia High in just his first year as a diver, before he heads south to the Lonestar State.
“I am super excited,” Mounkes said. “I’m proud that I have made it, since I didn’t think I would be any good. It would be great if I did well.”
Mounkes will be joined in the diving competition by fellow freshman Derek Krause. The two help comprise a field of 31 divers vying for a shot at the State title.
Not only that, but they will try to improve upon the showing Emporia High had last year when then-seniors Brady Wilson and Matt Paul finished sixth and 10th in the dive competition, respectively.
The fact that both Mounkes and Krause are freshmen and not experienced seniors will make the State meet more difficult than it already would be, EHS dive coach Barbara Clark said.
“Not knowing what to expect is one of the hardest things they’ll have to deal with,” Clark said, “and keeping them focused will also be tough. Getting them to concentrate on what they need to do and not watch the other divers will be important.”
Mounkes, who plans to stick with diving once he moves to Texas, said his goal Friday will be to advance through at least one cut, which is when the field of 31 gets trimmed to 20.
“There are some pretty good guys,” he said. “They do three cuts — the first to 20 and the second to 16. I’m hoping to make it through that first cut.”
In the pool, Emporia got an unexpected surprise this week when its 400-meter freestyle relay team found out it had made it to the State meet on a consideration time.
Though the Spartans’ relay team was the last to be chosen for the meet, that didn’t make the selection any less exciting.
“These guys are so excited,” coach Bob Yevak said. “They were so happy when they found out they get to go.”
The relay squad will for sure consist of Aaron Clark, TJ Michaels and Adam Coburn. The final member of the team will be chosen today when Scott Peterson, Cord Stanley and Dillon Suprian have a swim off to decide who swims with the other three.
Regardless of who wins the swim-off, all seven swimmers plus another alternate, Cody Yevak, will get to travel to the State meet, as Bob Yevak was allowed to list a team of eight possible swimmers for each relay event.
“Some of them don’t even care if they swim,” Yevak said, “they are just happy to be going.”
The only individual State qualifier for EHS is Aaron Clark, who qualified in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races. Clark is the Centennial League champion in both events, however, with the addition of the traditionally strong Kansas City-area swimmers, Clark is seeded 16th in the 50-yard event and 12th in the 100.
“It kind of scares me. There are a lot of fast kids there,” Clark said. “I’m just going to have to go all out and hope for the best.”
In what Yevak called “by far the fastest State meet I’ve ever seen,” the fact that Clark has not felt completely fresh the last few days has had him somewhat anxious.
“To tell you the truth, I’m not feeling that great,” Clark said. “I’m feeling kind of slow, but I trust Bob and his tapering strategy. I’ve got a couple more days to get better.”
The State meet gets underway with swimming preliminaries at 2 p.m. on Friday at Hummer Sports Complex Natatorium in Topeka. The diving competition will begin at 7 p.m. Friday. The meet concludes Saturday, with the diving semifinals starting at 10 a.m., followed by the finals in all the events starting at 12:45 p.m.