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Collegiate's Sam Horner celebrates his league-record 200-yard freestyle swim. (Photo by Joan Barrett / February 11, 2013) |
The Wichita Collegiate swim team is speeding straight toward the State Championships after taking second place at the ArK Valley-Chisholm Trail League meet on Saturday, Jan. 9 with just eight swimmers.
"League went extremely well for Collegiate with many top three finishes," said senior Sam Horner.
Horner took first place in the 200-yard freestyle, and set a new league meet record in the process. It was his third-straight league title in the event. Horner also took second in the 500-yard freestyle.
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The Spartans also claimed a league title in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Horner combined with senior Rhys Powell, junior Jake Barrett and sophomore Trent Pirner for the top spot.
Powell took second place in the 50-yard freestyle and third place in the 100-yard freestyle. Pirner finished in third place in the 200-yard Individual Medley and second place in the 100-yard breaststroke. Junior Jack Naron finished just behind Pirner in the breaststroke, finishing third.
Barrett finished second in the 100-yard backstroke and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle.
The relay team of Barrett, Naron, Horner and Powell took second place in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Senior Patrick Maloney with sophomores, Mikey Hoeckel, Andrew Steele and Pirner finished fourth in the 200-yard medley relay as well.
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Other placing team members included Naron, who finished the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.33 seconds; just enough to put him in ninth place and possibly make it to state on a consideration time.
Maloney finished just behind Naron with a time of 25.53 to put him in tenth place. Steele finished the 50-yard freestyle in 13th. Steele rounded out the 100-yard butterfly with an 11th-place finish.
Barrett finished the 100-yard freestyle in fifth place with a state-qualifying time of 53.29 seconds. Hoeckel finished 11th in the 100-yard freestyle.
Maloney and Hoeckel took sixth and eighth places, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke.
Both Powell and Horner are both looking forward to dropping time at the state meet, as well as improved health.
"The meet went very well, I'm proud of everyone who swam,” said Powell. “I've been sick for the past week, so it's a matter of staying healthy right now.”
"Now that we are just getting ready to hit taper, we plan on swimming even faster at state," said Horner.
Head Coach Randy McVay sums up the team's excitement for the upcoming weekend.
"Our swimmers look forward to the (state) meet all season,” he said. “I think the swim team swam well against some tough competition. We are looking forward to a great state meet next weekend.”
Last year at the state meet, the relay team of Barrett, Pirner, Horner and Powell medaled in all three of the relays. Powell took the sixth-place medal in the 100-yard freestyle as well.
The team hopes to bring home a lot more medals for their team and possibly even a championship title on Feb. 15 and 16 in Topeka.
