McCook's swim-dive state spots are finalized

When the final entries for the Nebraska State Swim and Dive Meet were released this week, the news was bittersweet for the McCook High School team.

The girls’ relay team made it in three events and McCook qualified its’ first individual male swimmer since 1993. Four male divers will also make the trip to the state championship meet Feb. 21-23.

On the flip side, the secondary qualifying time for the MHS boys’ relay team fell a bit short of the top 32 times in the state and they are staying home.

Heading to Lincoln next week will be the girls’ relay team of Candace Coleman, Laurel Schmidt, Mollie Tate and Becca Tietz. They will be swimming the 200 and 400 free relays along with the 200 medley relay.

Junior Erik Graff qualified in the 100 breaststroke. He is the first male swimmer to qualify in the 15 years MHS swim coach Lori Jumps has led the high school team.

Graff is also one of four male divers who qualified for the state dive meet on Thursday, Feb. 21. He is joined by repeat qualifiers, Syd Wier and Spencer Reiners, and first-time qualifier Caige Eaton.

While boys’ relay team was disappointed, the boys can hold their heads high with a successful season. The team of senior Isaac Hegwood, juniors TJ Renner and Erik Graff and freshman Ethan Spencer set a MHS record in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:38.18.

Also setting a new record this year for MHS was Carmen Cubria-Sanchez, a 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Spain, who is hosted by Deborah and Jeff Donelan. During the first half of the season, Carmen broke the girls 500 free record with a time of 2:23.49/Unfortunately, Carmen suffered a concussion soon after, forcing her to set out the second half of the season and also narrowly missed making it to state meet in the 500 free.

“It was a heartbreak that they didn’t get into the state meet,” coach Lori Jumps commented.. “but they had a tremendous, successful season. One they should be very proud of.”

Jumps added that the entire girls’ team is one of the most cohesive teams she has ever had. “They all work well together,” she said.