Spartan swimmers expectedly ragged in Manhattan invite
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Thursday, January 18, 2007
A few days before the Emporia High boys swimming and diving team traveled to Manhattan for the Manhattan Invitational, EHS coach Bob Yevak predicted that his swimmers would struggle because of a tough week of practice.
“We’ll be going hard in practice,” Yevak said on Monday, “so the guys will probably be pretty tired by the Manhattan meet.”
Yevak’s prognosticating turned out to be somewhat true, as Emporia finished last out of six teams at Wednesday’s Manhattan Invitational with 256 points — 272 points behind tournament winner, Olathe East — though some Spartans turned in top performances.
In the dive competition, Mason Mounkes was the top finisher for EHS, coming in sixth with a final score of 178.60. Brian Tabares came in eighth (139.75) and Sam Nolan finished 10th (123.75), which earned the Spartans 31 points in the event when combined with Mounkes’ placing.
Aaron Clark turned in the top two finishes for the Spartans in the swimming events, placing second in the 100-yard freestyle and third in the 200-yard freestyle. In the 100, Clark finished in 51.13 seconds, less than a half second back of first-place finisher David Reid of Salina Central (50.70). In the 200, Clark’s time of 1:53.48 was bested by Reid (1:52.27) and Olathe East’s Austin Acheson (1:50.23).
Emporia’s 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay squads managed to place high as well. The 200-yard team of Clark, Adam Coburn, Cord Stanley and Tyler Michales finished sixth in a time of 1:41.34, while the same four finished fifth in the 400-yard relay race in a time of 3:48.36.
Coburn placed seventh in the 200-yard IM (2:31.88), Andrew Wayman placed seventh in the 500-yard freestyle (6:21.66) and Miles Ringgold (1:20.30) and Michael Stauffer (1:20.72) finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke to round of the rest of the top-10 finishers for EHS.
The Spartans’ 200-yard medley relay team of Dillon Suprian, Ringgold, Justin Prentiss and Michales also pulled through to place eighth in a time of 2:03.18.
Olathe East took the team title with 528 points, followed by Salina South (459), Newton (376), Manhattan (336) and Salina South (306).
The Spartans’ diving invitational set for Tuesday was canceled because of a lack of teams.
EHS wrestlers go 2-0
at Topeka High meet
Caleb Chiroy and Bryce Shaver both posted two wins, helping the Emporia High wrestling team to a pair of team victories in its meet at Topeka High on Wednesday.
The Spartans defeated Washburn Rural, 41-33, and Topeka High, 42-33.
Mark Kolmer posted the most impressive victory for EHS, defeating Topeka High’s James Landry, 9-6. Landry is No. 1 in the class 6A rankings at the 189-pound weight class.
It was actually the second time Kolmer has accomplished the feat, as he also defeated Landry at home in an earlier meet this season.
Colby Walecki’s 6-4 win over Rural’s Brady Fouts was also significant, as Fouts competed in the Centennial League finals of his weight class last year.
Jared Dakin (103) and Tavo Dikin (125) added wins by fall for the Spartans, who bumped many junior varsity wrestlers up for the meet.
The Spartans’ next action will come in its own duel tournament Saturday. The meet — originally scheduled for 10 a.m. — will now start at 9 because new teams have been added to the field.
Junction City, Chanute, Wichita Heights, Derby and Norton will join EHS at the event.