On first day of state meet, Olathe East, BV North excel

TOPEKA | The Olathe East boys have never won a swimming and diving state title, though they have sure come close. Blue Valley North has won more than a few, but none since 2002.

Those two teams were generating the most buzz Friday after preliminaries on day one of the Kansas state championships at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.

“I think right now Olathe East and (Blue Valley) North are going head-to-head,” BV Northwest coach Kyle Farrington said. “It will be fun to watch them fight it out.”

Olathe East and BV North each placed 13 swimmers/relays in today’s championships finals, which takes the top eight times from prelims. No other team had so many.

The Hawks also have another four swimmers to score points in the consolation finals and four entrants remaining in the diving competition.

BV North has six swimmers in the consolation finals. But the Mustangs have no divers entered.

Both teams know better than to assume anything yet.

“It’s 0-0. And if (we) don’t show up tomorrow, it doesn’t matter what we’ve done today,” said Olathe East coach Dave Youker, whose team finished second at state last year, two points behind champion Shawnee Mission East.

Added BV North junior Nathan Hoisington, “There’s never really a fair way to say it’s between two teams. … You can never count anybody out.”

For Olathe East, senior Cris Smith took the top seed in the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 43.38 seconds); senior Austin Acheson, the reigning 500 freestyle state champion, posted the top prelim time in that event (4:35.46); and sophomore Ben Scheffer had the top Friday time in the 100 backstroke (51.22).

BV North has the top-seeded 400 freestyle relay, featuring Jack O’Neill, Kyle Smith, Greg Jacobs and Hoisington (3:14.55).

Blue Valley Northwest suffered a setback when its 200 freestyle relay disqualified on a false start. But the Huskies and four-time defending state champ SM East both remain in the hunt for strong finishes.

For the Huskies, senior Luke Musser took top seeds in the 200 individual medley (1:50.60) and 100 breaststroke, which he swam in a state meet record 56.25.

He’ll have to fend off BV North’s Hoisington, who is the defending state champion in the 200 individual medley and seeded second.

BV Northwest senior Nathan Welchlin was a state champion last year in the 200 freestyle. This year, he grabbed the top seed in the 50 freestyle (21.08) and finished second in prelims in the 100 butterfly.

The Huskies’ 200 medley relay of Welchlin, Musser, Nathan Rommel and Branden Schoofs also took a top seed, in 1:36.24.

SM East posted the top time in the 200 freestyle relay Friday with Jon Reene, Jack Walker, Hunter Stevenson and Spencer Sherard (1:28.24).

Blue Valley’s Austin Wright had the top seed in the 100 freestyle, finishing in 47.95.

Shawnee Mission North’s Luke Calkins held the top score (203.20) after the diving preliminaries.

submitted by RYAN YOUNG - 2009-02-20 23:37:02

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