Bison diver wins GNAC in grand finale; state next week

HASTINGS - The McCook High School swim and dive team reached the top of the podium just once this past weekend at the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference swim meet.

Competing against regular foes of North Platte, Scottsbluff and Hastings, the Bison claimed many second place finishes but just one GNAC champion over the two-day meet.

McCook’s lone female diver Shayann Parlier placed first Friday evening during the diving competition but fell just short of the 300 points needed to make the trip to Lincoln for the state swim and dive tournament.

As a senior, Parlier has officially wrapped up a three-year diving career at McCook.

“While we’re disappointed she didn’t make it to state, we are thrilled she was GNAC champion a goal from the start of the season,” McCook Head Coach Jon Graff said. “She has had a great career and we will miss her next year.”

McCook junior Ethan Graff placed third overall in the men’s diving event and had already qualified for the state diving tournament. He will spend the next week preparing for the state meet, which is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25 at the Devaney Center in Lincoln.

Despite the snowing weather on Saturday, the swimmers returned to Hastings with many posting season best times at the GNAC meet, which is what a coach wants to see from theirswimmers, coach Graff said.

“We would have loved to have added a few more GNAC champions, but we had a lot of great runner-up performances and many of our swimmers set personal records,” Graff said.

A few of the memorable races included freshman Deacon Kinne’s come-from-behind second-place finish in the men’s 500 yard freestyle event with a time of 6:11.

Senior Kerrigan Burns posted a season’s best time in the 100 yard backstroke, taking three second off her personal best to place third in 1:16.

And in the most dramatic finish of the day, sophomore Leah Spencer was just out-touched at the finish in the 100 yard freestyle after coming off the wall at the 75-yard flip turn with a slight lead.

Leah finished second in both the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events with times of 25.80 and 55.97 respectively and ould make an appeacrance at the state meet in both events next week.

Also placing second on the day was Izzy Renner in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:37 and Ethan Spencer in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 54.84.

The Bison finished second for the boys and girls in the 100 yard butterfly with Alexis Tucker finishing in 1:13 while Caleb Wilkinson touched at 1:12.

Although slightly slower, the girls’ 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams again posted secondaryqualifying times as required for an appearance at the state meet.

The relay team of Alexis Tucker, Kailynn Rodewald, Izzy Renner and Spencer placed third in the 200 free and second in the 400 free.

“I think our relays suffered a little from some lingering illnesses,” Graff said. “We hope to get healthy over the next week and a half, so we can go into state and post the most competitive times of our season.”

The state swim entries will be finalized over the next few days. In addition to Leah’s individual events, McCook hopes to have both the girls 200 and 400 yard freestyle relay teams make the trip to Lincoln.

Other top 6 finishes included:

Alexis Tucker, 200 free, third, 2:14; Kailynn Rodewald, 200 free, fourth, 2:17; 500 free, fifth, 6:07; David Hinson, 200 free, fifth, 2:17; 200 IM, fourth, 2:41; Deacon Kinne, 200 free, sixth, 2:22; Abi Nielsen, 200 IM, sixth, 3:05; 100 breaststroke, fifth, 1:31; Ethan Spencer, 50 free, fourth, 24.91; Izzy Renner, 100 free, fifth, 1:01; Ethan Graff, 100 backstroke, sixth, 1:19;Joe Barenberg, 100 breaststroke, sixth, 1:15.