LADY BULLPUP/LADY VIKING SWIMMERS DOMNINATE HUTCHINSON INVITE

TEAM WINS 9 OF 11 EVENTS

By William

HUTCHINSON = It is almost becoming the normal for the co-op McPherson/Smoky Valley girls swim team to go into a meet and win, but on Tuesday they went to Hutchinson and totally dominated the seven-team field by not only winning the team title by 197 points but by taking first in nine of the eleven events.

The Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings closed out their regular season meets by rolling up 418 team points to take the team title, well ahead of second-place Dodge City with 221. Host Hutchinson, and Holcomb rounded out the top four teams with Marion, Hays, and Liberal being the other three teams swimming.

“We could not have asked for a better way to end our regular season meets than how we performed today,” explained Head Coach Abby Bradstreet. “All of the girls did such an incredible job, and it has been so much fun to watch them grow and succeed both personally and as a team throughout the season. As a team we ended up with the first-place finish but beyond that we placed first in every single event except two. That is not something to take lightly and these girls should be extremely proud of their performances today.”

As for the events themselves, McPherson/Smoky Valley won all three relays and took first in six of the eight individual swims as well. Kierstan Trost had a strong day swimming as she won both the 50 Freestyle and 100 Butterfly, swimming the Butterfly in a state qualifying time. Danica Brunk also won two events by landing first in the 200 Individual Medley and 500 Freestyle. Zoey Whorton won the 200 Freestyle, and Karik Elliott in the 100 Freetyle were the other individual winners. In five events the Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings also finished with a second-place medal.

Coach Bradstreet concluded her post-meet reflections by adding, “Kierstan (Trost) also earned her 100 Butterfly State Qualification time that she has been working hard for all season. It is fun to watch these girls work so hard and get rewarded by meeting their goals during the meets. It has been a different kind of year and an unfortunate one in the fact that we have had been limited to no spectators throughout the meets. However, these girls have pushed through all of this and have definitely exceeded my expectations. I am so proud of them and cannot wait to see what they do at the league and state swim meets coming up.”

Next up for the Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings will be the AVCTL Division III meet in Salina on Friday, May 14.

 LADY BULLPUP/LADY VIKING SWIMMERS at Hutchinson

Team Standings = 1^st LADY BULLPUPS/LADY VIKINGS 418; 2^nd Dodge City 221; 3^rd Hutchinson 198; 4^th Holcomb 132; 5^th Marion 125; 6^th Hays 120.5; 7. Liberal 47.5.

NEW STATE QUALIFICATION TIME =

• Kierstan Trost in the 100 Butterfly

LADY BULLPUP/LADY VIKING INDIVIDUAL RESULTS =

200 Medley Relay = 1^st LADY BULLPUPS/LADY VIKINGS ‘A’ 2:34.45 (Karik Elliott, Danica Brunk, Kierstan Trost, Marissa Pearcy); 7^th Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings ‘B’ 2:34.45 (Skylar Nutt, Mariah Andrewson, Mackenzie Heline, Emily Heskett).

200 Freestyle = 1^st ZOEY WHORTON 2:19.81; 4^th Adrien Lochard 2:30.10; 12^th Skylar Nutt 3:13.95.

200 Individual Medley = 1^st DANICA BRUNK 2:26.27; 4^th Emily Heskett 3:04.45; 6^th Mackenzie Heline 3:15.71.

50 Freestyle = 1^st KIERSTAN TROST 27.18; 2^nd Avery Van Der Wege 27.35; 7^th Alexis Smith 29.92; 15^th Chloe Patrick 23.91; 17^th Avery Kruckenberg 33.74; 27^th Zoe McHenry 37.71.

100 Butterfly = 1^st KIERSTAN TROST 1:06.94; 2^nd Marissa Pearcy 1:12.07; 3^rd Alexis Smith 1:21.14.

100 Freestyle = 1^st KARIK ELLIOTT 5:36.42; 2^nd Avery Van Der Wege 1:01.16; 9^th Olivia Mader 1:10.90; 14^th Mackenzie Heline 1:13.15; 16^th Chloe Patrick 1:14.59.

500 Freestyle = 1^st DANICA BRUNK 5:36.42; 3^rd Adrien Lochard 6:46.77; 9. Avery Kruckenberg 8:22.72.

200 Freestyle Relay = 1^st LADY BULLPUPS/LADY VIKINGS ‘A’ 1:55.83 (Avery Van Der Wege, Olivia Mader, Adrien Lochard, Karik Elliott); 5^th Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings ‘B’ 2:06.30 (Zoey Whorton, Mackenzie Heline, Emily Heskett, Alexis Smith); 10^th Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings ‘C’ 2:20.82 (Zoe McHenry, Mariah Andrewson, Avery Kruckenberg, Chloe Patrick).

100 Backstroke = 2^nd Karik Elliott 1:09.56; 3^rd Zoey Whorton 1:10.93; 9^th Skylar Nutt 1:25.02.

100 Breaststroke = 2^nd Marissa Pearcy 1:24.49; 6^th Olivia Mader 1:35.74; 8^th Emily Heskett 1:37.11; 9^th Mariah Andrewson 1:38.97; 14^th Zoe McHenry 1:45.05.

400 Freestyle Relay = 1^st LADY BULLPUPS/LADY VIKINGS ‘A’ 3:57.15 (Avery Van Der Wege, Marissa Pearcy, Kierstan Trost, Danica Brunk); 2^nd Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings ‘B’ 4:36.49 (Adrien Lochard, Olivia Mader, Alexis Smith, Zoey Whorton); 9^th Lady Bullpups/Lady Vikings ‘C’ 5:22.22 (Avery Kruckenberg, Skylar Nutt, Mariah Andrewson, Chloe Patrick).