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Bison swim, divers making last push for state
HASTINGS, Neb. — The McCook High School swim and dive team wrapped up its regular season Friday at the Hastings YMCA and will return to the same pool for the conference meet this weekend.
On Friday, McCook competed against regular foes Hastings and North Platte High Schools.
At this point, Senior Erik Graff is the only MHS swimmer or diver who will definitely make the trip to the Devaney Center in Lincoln for the state championship meet.
He qualified earlier in the season in diving but is hoping to make a return trip to Lincoln in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Erik earned a secondary qualifying time in the breaststroke Friday, dropping his personal best this season from 1:09 to 1:05.
He’ll need to drop another second or two to automatically qualify and his dad/coach thinks he can do it.
“Erik looks great in the straights but needs to work on his turns to get to that automatic time,” MHS coach Jon Graff said.
Also on the verge of qualifying is freshman sprinter Leah Spencer, who is looking to make it in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events.
“She matched her personal bests but didn’t cut any time, so she’s hungry to improve her times at GNAC and get an automatic entry for the state meet,” Graff said.
He was also happy to see long-distance swimmer Kailynn Rodewald drop time in the 500-yard freestyle.
“In the 500, a second or two off every lap adds up and gets you closer to the secondary time, so that is what we’ll work on this week,” Graff said.
Alexis Tucker is also inching closer to a secondary time in the 200 yard freestyle and could get there by Saturday, Graff said.
To kick off Friday’s meet, the divers competed in a six-dive meet, making it difficult to obtain the 300 points needed to qualify for state, but allowing divers a chance to perfect several of their dives.
Sophomore Shayann Parlier has been struggling with an injured foot, so that has been affecting her overall score, Graff said.
“And then Thursday, Ethan Graff hit the board with this lower leg during practice so he’s a bit gimpy too,” Graff said. “We’re just starting to get over sickness and now we’re getting hit physically.”
On Saturday, just Shayann and Hayden Norgaard made the trip to Kearney High School for the final regular 11-dive meet.
Hayden is just a freshman but is consistently getting better and we have high hopes for him, Graff said.
The Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference dive meet is Friday evening with the swim meet Saturday morning, offering the final chance for everyone to qualify for the state championship.