Emporia High’s youth showed at the Spartans’ first swim meet of the season, but coach Bob Yevak was still encouraged.
The Spartans finished sixth out of seven teams at Thursday’s Emporia Invitational, totaling 240 points. For this point in the season, though, their performance was good enough for Yevak, because EHS’s team finish wasn’t as important to him in this first meet.
“I thought our younger kids that my wife coaches swam really well,” Yevak said. “There’s some talent there. Didn’t look like a lot today unless you know what you’re looking for. And (I) saw some competition out of some kids — there’ll be two or three of those kids that will swim with us at the league meet. Just kind of figuring out what’s going on right now.”
Kathryn Scherich came down with a case of strep throat earlier this week, but recovered enough to post the Spartans’ best individual placings of the day. She finished third in the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.25 seconds and also took fourth place in the 100 free with a time of 1:02.85.
“Today, I’m feeling a little bit better, but still pretty weak,” Scherich said. “So it was pretty good, considering I’ve been sick and everything.”
Scherich’s finishes were the only top-five individual swimming efforts for the Spartans. In Wednesday’s diving competition, Carissa Schmitz led EHS as she, Chelsea Kessler and Madison Reiber finished first, third and fifth. Schmitz’s score of 180.15 got her qualified for State, surpassing the qualification threshold of 180.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Scherich, Michelle Thompson, Jade Gaskill and Rebecca Tidwell finished fourth with a time of 1:52.93, and the 400 free relay team finished fifth with a relay order of Tidwell, Thompson, Gaskill and Scherich.
“We had a couple of kids that would have helped us a lot on our 200, 400 free relay(s) that didn’t get to swim, because they weren’t here over spring break for practice,” Yevak said. “So next week, they’re onto those relays, so I expect to at least qualify the 200 automatically, probably, maybe the 400.”
Emporia Invitational
Team scores
Lawrence 458, Free State 410, Manhattan 376, Washburn Rural 349, Andover Swim Team 259, Emporia 240, Seaman 135.
Emporia results
200 medley relay
16. Emporia C (Decker, P. Krueger, Osborn, Peterson), 2:56.89.
200 freestyle
12. Clark, 2:31.91; 14. Gaskill, 2:36.77; 16. Ranalli, 2:40.21.
200 individual medley
7. Tidwell, 2:29.67; 17. Mason, 2:54.93; 20. Hilbish, 3:04.99.
50 freestyle
3. Scherich, 27.25; 8. Thompson, 28.86; 13. E. Krueger, 29.64.
1-meter diving (Wednesday)
1. Schmitz, 180.15; 3. Kessler 147.95; 5. Reiber, 136.55
100 butterfly
6. Tidwell, 1:08.20; 15. E. Krueger, 1:23.02.
100 freestyle
4. Scherich, 1:02.85; 5. Thompson, 1:03.31; 18. DeLong, 1:16.55.
500 freestyle
13. Hollenbeck, 7:00.45; 15. Clark, 7:06.00; 16. Ranalli, 7:23.39.
200 freestyle relay
4. Emporia A (Scherich, Thompson, Gaskill, Tidwell), 1:52.93.
100 backstroke
16. Mason, 1:18.73; 18. Arndt, 1:28.25; 20. Ferrell, 1:33.71.
100 breaststroke
10. Wacker, 1:25.60; 15. Hilbish, 1:32.17; Metz, 1:44.82.
400 freestyle relay
5. Emporia A (Tidwell, Thompson, Gaskill, Scherich), 4:12.68; 13. Emporia B (E. Krueger, P. Krueger, DeLong, Wheeler), 4:50.60; 19. Emporia C (Paige, Housholder, Ma, Osborn), x-6:01.89.
lnoller (anonymous) says...
I would like to congratulate Carissa Schmitz on qualifying for State in her first meet. Quite an accomplishment for a second year diver! Good luck this year!!
March 27, 2009 at 2:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )