Lady Buffs take 2nd at Salina invite
Story courtesy Garden City High School Sports Information
Photo courtesy Josh Harbour/Harbour Photography
Next up will be defending WAC title
The spring sports season begins and ends in a snapshot, it would seem.
That’s the way it feels for the Garden City High School Lady Buffs swimming team as they are near the end of the regular season.
On Thursday (May 7), the Lady Buffs had their final tune-up for defending their Western Athletic Conference championship on May 14 at home with a second-place finish at the Salina South/Central Invitational.
The Lady Buffs scored 408 points while Derby took the team title with 541 points. Junction City was a distant third with 329 points.
“We had a solid performance from a number of the girls,” head coach Jennifer Meng said. “Some girels cut time, some stayed within the same time.”
The Lady Buffs claimed five first-place finishes, two of them coming in relays.
The Individual victories came from Jencie Stocking in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:14.74 while Brylee West was right behind in second at 2:15.69.
“Both cutting times and staying within the same (best) times is good considering we just swam in Topeka two days prior,” Meng said. “Jencie (Stocking) got a state consideration time in her 200 free. We now have four girls with a state consideration time in that event.”
Junior Livi Meng won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races with times of 26.74 and 59.44. Her win in the 50-yard freestyle also included a sweep of the top three spots as Lauren Lightner took second in 27.00 and Ellie Sekavec third in 27.31.
The 200-yard relay team of Lightner, Sekavec, West and Meng clocked a winning time of 1:47.87 and the same four but in the order of West, Sekeavec, Lightner and Meng claimed the 400-yard freestyle in 4:06.15.
Sekavec, Lightner and West all finished second in the races of 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke with times of 6:19.50, 1:13.93 and 1:13.82. Stocking places third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:20.41.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Abigail Wise, Stocking, Emma Wheeler and Tegan Snodgrass finished second in 2:20.71.
“We’re excited about how we are performing heading into WAC,” Meng said.
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Salina South/Central Swim Invitational
Thursday, May 7
Team Scores/South
- Derby, 541; 2. Garden City, 408; 3. Junction City, 329; 4. Salina South, 305; 5. Dodge City, 226; 6. Holcomb, 165; 7. Abilene, 32.
Garden City Results
200y medley relay—2. Wise, Stocking, Wheeler, Snodgrass, 2:20.71.
200y freestyle—1. Stocking, 2:14.74; 2. West, 2:15.69; 6. Wheeler, 2:33.50.
200y individual medley—5. Wise, 3:02.46.
50y freestyle—1. Meng, 26.74; 2. Lightner, 27.00; 3. Sekavec, 27.31.
100y freestyle—1. Meng, 59.44; 8. Snodgrass, 1:11.23.
500y freestyle—2. Sekavec, 6:19.50; 6. Wheeler, 6:53.80.
200y freestyle relay—1. Lightner, Sekavec, West, Meng, 1:47.87.
100y backstroke—2. Lightner, 1:13.93; 4. Wise, 1:19.46; 7. Chacon, 1:31.59.
100y breaststroke—2. West, 1:13.82; 3. Stocking, 1:20.41.
400y freestyle relay—1. West, Sekavec, Lightner, Meng, 4:06.15 (Splits: 1:01.57; 1:01.35; 1:02.83; 1:00.40).