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Bison return with a splash at Kearney Swim-Dive meet
KEARNEY, Neb. - After the holiday hiatus, the McCook swimmers and divers returned to the pool this past weekend for their first meet since mid-December with good results.
“After a long break, you never know what the kids are going to look like coming back,” McCook coach Jon Graff said.
“But the swimmers and divers finished with some great performances and improved times across the board.”
The Kearney Invite started Friday with the dive meet at the Kearney High School, which included the reigning state champ from Lincoln’s Pius X.
McCook senior Caleb Shaw punched his return ticket for the state dive meet, finishing fourth overall with a score of 309.25.
Divers need 300 points in an 11-dive meet to qualify for the state meet in Lincoln in February.
“Now he can spend time refining his dives and adding difficulty to those dives in the meets leading up to the state meet,” Graff said.
On the girls’ side, McCook junior Maryann Kassner finished fourth with 298.6, just shy of the 300 needed to qualify for the state meet.
“We’re confident she can get there,” Graff said. “In just her second year, she’s really come a long way and with some work over the next few weeks, we can get her qualified.”
On Saturday, the swimmers took to the pool with the McCook boys relay teams posting secondary qualifying times in both the 200 medley and 200 free relays.
The McCook relay team, which includes Derick and Aaron Spencer, Blake Rodewald and Kevin Bantam, finished the 200 medley with a time of 1:52.19 for fourth place and the 200 free in 1:38.73 for sixth.
Junior Kevin Bantam led the team with the highest finish of the meet, a second place in the 100 yard breaststroke on a time of 1:06.81.
Bantam, a student at Medicine Valley but who swims for McCook, continues to take time off his 200 yard freestyle, earning third with a time of 1:54.96.
“There was less than a second between the first three places,” Graff said. “While he has a secondary qualifying time, Kevin’s time isn’t quite there yet to get in automatically but we’re confident he’s going to make it to state.”
Sophomore Blake Rodewald earned a secondary time in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.66 and 7th overall.
He also finished fourth in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:15.69.
“Across the board, the boys took time off nearly all their events,” Graff said, “So we are looking forward to what they’ll do over the next few meets.”
On the girls’ side, the McCook girls’ relay team is within shooting distance of the state meet, taking time off both the 200 medley and 200 free events.
The relay of Emma Graff, Abi Nielsen, Maryann Kassner and Abby Renner dropped nearly a second off their 200 free time at 1:53.90 for ninth and 200 medley at 2:05.93 for fifth place.
Sophomore Abby Renner swam the 100 yard butterfly for the first time this season and posted a secondary qualifying time of 1:04.51, good for fourth place.
She also lowered her time in the 50 yard freestyle, finishing 7th with a time of 26.48.
Junior Emma Graff took some time off her 100 breaststroke and is within a second of the secondary time needed for state, posting a time of 1:17. 69 for fifth place.
The McCook swimmers and divers will head to Lincoln this next weekend for the Cotter Invite, otherwise known as the Banana Meet.
“It’s the biggest meet of the year other than the state meet,” Graff said. “The kids face tough competition but have a great time earning bananas for winning a heat and improving their times.”
Other McCook swimmers who earned team points at the Kearney meet included:
Derick Spencer, 200 free, 7th, 2:02.54; 100 free, 11th, 55.96;
Aaron Spencer, 200 yard IM, 8th, 2:24.95; 100 butterfly, 11th, 1:05.74;
Eli Graff, 500 free, 11th, 6:53.96;
Tate Moser, 500 free, 12th, 6:54.26;
Girls 400 yard freestyle relay (Halee Maris, Ashtyn Contrerez, Lacey Rouse, Juliett Critshfield), 10th, 6:01.4;
Boys 400 yard freestyle relay (Noah Mashek, Jacen Cook, Eli Graff, Tate Moser); 9th, 4:35.35.