Bison swim-dive enjoy 'unique' meet at N.P.

McCook High senior Shayann Parlier (above) looks for the water mid-dive during Thursday’s dive-swim meet at North Platte. She’s striving to reach the Class B state diving competition. Senior Owen Smith (below) swims the breaststroke during the men’s 200 medley relay.

Ronda Graff/For The Gazette

NORTH PLATTE - The North Platte/McCook swim and dive dual is the most unique meet of the swim season.

For starters, all swimmers must do in-water starts, rather than from the traditional starting blocks. That in turn makes times not as traditionally fast as other meets, so swimmers try events they would not normally do if they are being truly competitive. And to close out the meet, the swimmers utilize the North Platte Rec Center’s shallower-than-normal pool to compete in a running - rather than swimming - relay.

It is a meet that the Bison swimmers look forward to all season, even if their times are not season-best, McCook Head Coach Jon Graff said.

Ronda Graff/For The Gazette

“This is always a more relaxed meet for our swimmers,” Graff said. “The in-water starts mean it’s unlikely that we are going to see improved times, but we still saw some great races.”

He cited the relays, which were very competitive and featured a different line-up of swimmers than who usually swim together.

The girls 500 yard freestyle, the longest race of the meet, came down to the wire, with McCook Junior Alexis Tucker getting just out-touched at the wall by Dana Sorenson of North Platte, 6:03.90 to 6:04.52.

Tucker also claimed first in the 100 yard freestyle in 1:04.20.

Graff also commended freshman Haylee Maris, who has just taken up competitive swimming this year.

“Haylee has improved her time in the 50 free at each and every meet, including this North Platte meet, which makes it even more impressive,” Graff said.

Other first place finishes included:

Kailynn Rodewald, 200 free, 2:21

Ethan Spencer, 200 individual medley, 2:35

Izzy Renner, 100 butterfly, 1:15.89

Leah Spencer, 100 backstroke, 1:07.14

400 yard free relay (K. Rodewald, Olivia Koetter, Tucker, Kerrigan Burns), 4:41.22

While the swim meet is unique, the dive portion was the standard 11-dive meet where divers could qualify for the state dive meet in Lincoln in February.

McCook senior Shayann Parlier is the lone female diver for both teams and is still striving to reach the 300-point thresh-hold required for the state dive meet. She finished with 262 points.

For the boys, McCook’s Ethan Graff impr roved his state-qualifying score from last week, reaching 314.55 points in North Platte, good enough for second place overall.

The Bison swim and dive team wraps up its regular season next Friday at the McCook YMCA, where the seniors and their parents will be honored.