Emporia High’s swimming team finished third out of four squads at the Manhattan Invitational on Wednesday and had 16 best times.
The Spartans finished second in the 200 medley relay event, with Rebecca Tidwell, Megan Wacker, Kathryn Scherich and Michelle Thompson swimming the race in a time of 2:06.28. Their performance was good for a state-consideration time.
Scherich posted the Spartan girls’ two best individual finishes, placing second in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. Scherich finished the 50 free in 26.38 seconds and clocked a time of 1:00.84 in the 100 free.
Tidwell finished right behind Scherich in the 50, finishing third with a time of 26.77, and she also swam to a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke, clocking a time of 1:09.27. Michelle Thompson also earned a third-place finish for EHS, doing so in the 500 free with a time of 6:27.74, and Kendra Clark was third in the 200 free, finishing in 2:24.87.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Krueger, Clark, Jalen Hollenbeck and Jenika Wheeler finished third at 1:58.23, and the 400 free relay team of Hollenbeck, Summer Wilson, Wheeler and Scherich also earned a third-place finish with a time of 4:10.08.
Hollenbeck earned a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle, swimming that event in 1:02.99.
Manhattan won Wednesday’s event, and Washburn Rural finished second. Hayden was fourth.
Emporia will next host the Centennial League meet on May 14 and 15.
“We probably can’t beat Manhattan and Rural, but they’re gonna know we’re there,” EHS coach Bob Yevak said. “We’re gonna swim better than them. We may not beat ’em, but we’re gonna swim better than them. We usually do. We’re about one horse short.”
Wednesday at Manhattan
Emporia top 10 individual results
200 medley relay
1. Emporia A (Tidwell, Wacker, Scherich, Thompson), 2:06.28; 5. Emporia B (DeLong, Hilbish, J. Wheeler, Wilson), 2:23.34; 10. Emporia C (Arndt, PKrueger, Holmes, McRell), 2:41.04; 12. Emporia D (Decker, Metz, Paige, Ma), 2:55.07.
200 freestyle
3. Clark, 2:24.87.
200 individual medley
6. Mason, 2:51.76; 7. Hollenbeck, 2:54.73; 10. Metz, 3:26.43.
50 freestyle
2. Scherich, 26.38; 3. Tidwell, 26.77; 8. Thompson, 28.52; 9. Wilson, 28.56.
100 butterfly
6. Clark, 1:20.16; 9. J. Wheeler, 1:20.82; 10. E. Krueger, 1:21.34.
100 freestyle
2. Scherich, 1:00.84; 4. Hollenbeck, 1:02.99.
500 freestyle
3. Thompson, 6:27.74.
200 freestyle
3. Emporia A (E. Krueger, Clark, Hollenbeck, J. Wheeler), 1:58.23.
7. Emporia B (Ferrell, Decker, Peterson, McRell), 2:18.60.
100 backstroke
3. Tidwell, 1:09.27; 5. Wilson, 1:13.45; 7. Mason, 1:17.15; 10. DeLong, 1:21.48.
100 breaststroke
7. Wacker, 1:23.58.
400 freestyle
3. Emporia B (Hollenbeck, Wilson, Wheeler, Scherich), 4:10.08; 4. Emporia A (Thompson, Clark, E. Krueger, Tidwell), 4:20.78; 9. Emporia C (P. Krueger, DeLong, Arndt, Holmes), 5:04.10.