Clark named 2nd-team All-State after pair of top-8 finishes
EHS diver Derek Krause places 6th
By Michael Ashford
Monday, February 18, 2008
TOPEKA — If this was going to be Aaron Clark’s last go-round in competitive swimming, he wanted to make the most out of it.
Saturday at the State swimming and diving meet, Clark was the only Emporia High swimmer that had individually qualified for the meet, and he’d made it into the finals of both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.
What he came away with once it was all said and done was a pair of top-eight performances, which meant two State medals and two chances to stand on the championship podium to be recognized as one of the state’s best.
“I’ve got no complaints,” Clark said. “I swam better than I thought I would ... and it’s great to do it my senior year. I’ve never made finals before, I’m just glad to have gone out with a bang.”
Clark finished fifth in the 50 free and sixth in the 100. That gave him 27 points for the meet, which was enough to earn him second-team All-State honors.
Clark, who will not swim in college because of recurring shoulder problems, swam the 50 in a season-best 22.32 seconds and touched the wall in 49.42 seconds in the 100.
“I gave it my best,” he said.
While it was Clark’s final hurrah at EHS, another Spartan individual qualifier was busy getting his career kick-started in a big way in the diving competition.
After finishing 21st at the State meet as a freshman a year ago, EHS sophomore Derek Krause catapulted himself into the top eight this season, finishing sixth with a score of 358.30.
“I think I did pretty good,” Krause said. “I started to get better as the rounds went on, and in the last round, I thought I set myself up pretty good.”
Krause entered the final round seeded fifth and was just five points out of fourth place, but lost just enough points in his final three dives that he slipped to sixth. However, he did make up some ground by closing his round with a dive — an inward 1 1/2 — that he had not done all season.
“I guess it’s been looking pretty good in practice,” Krause said. “(EHS dive coach Barbara Clark) said I’d get a lot of points if I tried it, so I did.”
Barbara Clark said Krause’s showing was one of the better ones she had ever coached, and was confident in what the future held.
“He has so much potential to get even better,” Clark said, “and he’s coachable. He’s only going to get better.”
As a team, Emporia finished with 48 points, placing the Spartans in 16th.
Emporia’s final two entries in the meet were both relay squads, which both made it to Saturday’s consolation finals.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Clark, Sergio Segura, Dillon Suprian and Scott Peterson finished 15th while the 400 free relay team of Clark, Segura, Adam Coburn and Peterson also came in 15th.