Clark’s 2 state-qualifying finishes leads Emporia High swimmers’ charge
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Emporia High’s Aaron Clark qualified for State in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle to lead the EHS boys swim team to a fourth-place showing out of eight teams in a makeup meet on Tuesday.
Clark took first in both events, coming in with a time of 23.13 seconds in the 50-yard free to finish ahead of Topeka West’s Jordan Edwards (23.74) and finishing the 100-yard free in 51.64 seconds to beat out Washburn Rural’s Jeff Hagihara (52.81).
“Aaron Clark made a statement, holy cow,” EHS coach Bob Yevak said. “He swam a whole lot faster than what we were expecting.”
Clark’s big day was just the tip of the iceberg for EHS, as the Spartans recorded 31 personal- and team-best times in their first meet back in nearly a month.
“We swam unbelievable, all of our kids did,” Yevak said. “I was really pleased with our times, especially since we hadn’t competed in so long. The kids were sick of practicing, and they swam great.”
In diving, Mason Mounkes finished second behind Washburn Rural's Mike Heaney with a final score of 176.85, while Derek Krause finished third (170.55) and Brian Tabares came in fifth (152.20).
Other highlights for the Spartans included a fourth-place showing by Adam Coburn in the 200-yard IM, a fifth-place finish in the 500-yard free by Andrew Wayman and a sixth-place finish by Chase Ihde in the 100-yard breaststroke. Coburn also came in eighth in the 100-yard free and Ihde grabbed eighth place in the 200-yard free.
Unfortunately, Emporia’s day could have been even better had the Spartans’ 200-yard freestyle relay squad not been disqualified. One of Emporia’s swimmers got out too early during the relay, which forced the disqualification. Had the results stood, Emporia would have had another best time and would have jumped from fourth to second in the final team standings.
As it were, EHS finished fourth with 352 points, while Washburn Rural took the team title with 444 points. Seaman followed in second place with 365 points, and Topeka High took second with 359 points.