Rebecca Tidwell peeled off her goggles, looked up at the scoreboard and calmly raised both arms to the air. She and her 400-yard freestyle relay teammates — Kathryn Scherich, Summer Wilson and Jalen Hollenbeck — had just concluded Emporia High’s last home swimming meet of the season with a victory by more than seven seconds.
“That was the best way to end the day, ever,” Tidwell said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
The relay win was the icing on a fine meet Thursday for the Spartans, who recorded 21 best times and finished second to Washburn Rural in the team standings. Scherich, Wilson, Hollenbeck and Tidwell took 4 minutes and 0.39 of a second to complete the 400, well ahead of Parsons High’s time of 4:07.91. With a number of other high finishes to go with that victory and their usual win in the diving competition, Emporia showed that it continues to take steps forward as the season winds down. One more swim meet remains next week at Manhattan before the Spartans host the Centennial League meet.
Scherich nearly swam to victory in the 50 freestyle — her time of 26.50 was just .28 behind Parsons’ Maggie Rea — and recorded another second-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 59.27. Tidwell added fine swims in the 100 butterfly, finishing second with a time of 1:08.84, and in the 200 individual medley, in which she finished third at 2:29.39.
In addition to serving as the third leg of the winning 400 relay team, Hollenbeck also finished fifth in the 500 freestyle. Her time of 1:01.89 on her portion of the 400 was key to Emporia’s win, and she said she’d never swam that fast while competing in the 400 in B-relays.
“I think all the adrenaline got to me, being on the A-relay and stuff,” she said.
Megan Wacker earned a fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke and also made up one leg of the 200 medley relay team. That squad, which also included Haley DeLong, Jenika Wheeler and Michelle Thompson, finished fourth.
Chelsey Kessler gave Emporia another victory in the diving competition, and Carissa Schmitz finished second. Kessler collected 190.95 points, and Schmitz had 188.90.
Washburn Rural posted 487 points, well ahead of Emporia’s 421. Topeka High finished a distant third in the eight-team field with 313 points.
The Spartan divers travel to Manhattan for competition today at 3:30 p.m., while the EHS swimmers will be there next Wednesday, also at 3:30. Then comes League back at EHS on May 14 and 15, and coach Bob Yevak is optimistic about how the Spartans will fare there.
“We could put four or five kids on the All-League team, I think,” he said. “We’re solid there. We just drop off too much.”
Thursday at Emporia High
Team scores
Washburn Rural 487, Emporia 421, Topeka High 313, Hayden 302, Seaman 301, Parsons 210, Field Kindley 137, Topeka West 129.
Emporia individual results
200 medley relay
4. Emporia A (DeLong, Wacker, J. Wheeler, Thompson), 2:15.63; 9. Emporia B (Arndt, Hilbish, Clark, Ferrell), 2:25.66; 13. Emporia C (Decker, Osborn, Holmes, P. Krueger), x2:39.54.
200 freestyle
7. Hollenbeck, 2:22.26; 9. Gaskill, 2:30.65.
200 individual medley
3. Tidwell, 2:29.39; 11. Krueger, 2:56.02.
50 freestyle
2. Scherich, 26.50; 3. Thompson, 27.11; 7. Wilson, 28.40.
1-meter diving
1. Kessler, 190.95; 2. Schmitz, 188.90; 9. A. Wheeler, 109.65.
100 butterfly
2. Tidwell, 1:08.84; 4. J. Wheeler, 1:17.61; 9. E. Krueger, 1:21.68.
100 freestyle
2. Scherich, 59.27; 6. Thompson, 1:01.34; 12. Gaskill, 1:06.98.
500 freestyle
5. Hollenbeck, 6:31.96; 8. Clark, 6:46.25; 9. Ranalli, 6:57.92.
200 freestyle relay
11. Emporia B (Ferrell, McRell, Paige, Decker), 2:18.34; 14. Emporia C (Peterson, Housholder, K. Krueger, Ma), 2:30.80.
100 backstroke
8. DeLong, 1:20.26; 10. Holmes, 1:23.30; 13. Arndt, 1:25.67.
100 breaststroke
5. Wacker, 1:22.19; Hilbish, 1:29.01; 16. Osborn, 1:34.88.
400 freestyle relay
1. Emporia A (Tidwell, Wilson, Hollenbeck, Scherich), 4:00.39; 6. Emporia B (Gaskill, Clark, J. Wheeler, E. Krueger), 4:24.18; 12. Emporia C (P. Krueger, Metz, Paige, Decker), x5:16.67.