By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

TOPEKA – After struggling while being short handed on Saturday, the McPherson boys swim team was nearly back to full roster availability on Wednesday when they swam in the Topeka Hayden Invitational.

The Bullpups were able to place fourth in the nine-team field, scoring 246 points and trailing only Washburn Rural with 468, Kansas City Piper with 350, and Osawatomie with 274.

What a difference two practices can make,” explained Bullpup head coach Matt Cotton. “Having nearly the whole team back in the water helped immensely as the swimmers we had missed at the Maize meet played key roles in elevating us to a fourth-place finish.”

Cotton pointed out some high points in the meet by saying, “Wesley Wurm and Ethan Burger both had their first competitive swim of the season and immediately their impact was felt as they joined with Tytus Reed and Reid Schuckman to get a fifth-place finish and state consideration time in the 200 Medley Relay.”

In that same relay event, the Bullpups ‘B’ team of Tito Mendez, Christian Garcia, Gabriel House, and Palmer Heskett finished ninth overall and placed ahead of several other schools ‘A’ team relay quartets.

Other highlights came from Tytus Reed who placed third in both the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Butterfly.

Coach Cotton concluded his post-meet reflections by noting, “this was a great meet for us, it’s always worth the drive to swim at the Capitol-Federal Natatorium. It’s a fast pool, and the competition was really close this year. I am starting to see a bit more of the character of this squad, and they are all working hard to get better at every opportunity. While we are not at the apex of every meet we go to anymore, we are finding our races within our heats. We had some extremely close races; some went our way, and some did not. I can not fault the fight these guys showed in every single event.”

Next up for the Bullpup swimmers will be on Friday when they swim at Andover.

MCPHERSON BULLPUP INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:

200 Medley Relay = 5. Bullpups ‘A’ team 1:62.90 (Reid Schuckman, Ethan Burger, Tytus Reed, Wesley Wurm); 9. Bullpups ‘B’ team 2:14.50 (Tito Mendez, Christian Garcia, Gabriel House, Palmer Heskett).

200 Freestyle = 9. Christian Garcia 2:25.90; 16. Ethan Elder 2:50.98; 19. Nathan Klapp 3:00.15.

200 Individual Medley = 3. Tytus Reed 2:16.57; 10. Palmer Heskett 2:57.34.

50 Freestyle = 6. Wesley Wurm 24.22; 22. Tyler Vincent 31.57.

100 Butterfly = 3. Tytus Reed 59.63; 10. Gabriel House 1:16.74.

500 Freestyle = 8. Tito Mendez 7:27.63; 11. Ethan Elder 8:01.47.

200 Freestyle Relay = 6. Bullpups ‘A’ team 1:44.78 (Tytus Reed, Gabriel House, Reid Schuckman, Wesley Wurm); 15. Bullpups ‘B’ team 2:16.47 (Nathan Klapp, Pierce Hamma, Adrian Noriega, Leland Hept).

100 Backstroke = 12. Reid Schuckman 1:21.11; 14. Tito Mendez 1:23.11; 18. Nathan Klapp 1:35.91.

400 Freestyle Relay = 8. Bullpups ‘A’ team 4:37.31 (Tito Mendez, Palmer Heskett, Ethan Burger, Christian Garcia); 13. Bullpups ‘B’ team 5:13.75 (Ethan Elder, Nathan Klapp, Leland Hept, Tyler Vincent).

TEAM SCORING = 1. Washburn Rural – 468; 2. Kansas City Piper 350; 3. Osawatemie 274; 4. BULLPUPS 246; 5. Junction City 233; 6. Bishop Miege 224; 7. Topeka Hayden 123; 8. Wichita Trinity Academy 118; 9. Seabury Academy 40.