Lawrence High boys swimming coach Ryan Adams did a little too much tinkering with his relay teams Tuesday when the Lions hosted Shawnee Mission Northwest.

“We had a meet on Saturday, and we actually qualified two relays for state and everyone swam awesome,” Adams said following a 106-78 loss to the Cougars. “We were just tired today and just not on the ball. I took some guys out of their main events … so we didn’t load up the relays we usually do and so we tried doing the 200 medley and it didn’t work out for us.

“We experimented a little bit and it kind of bit us in the (butt) in the end. It kind of came back to haunt us a little bit, but I think down the road we’re going to be better for this meet and it lets us know some stuff.”

LHS was outmatched by the Cougars the entire meet. Lawrence’s Alex Boyer had the team’s only first-place finish, coming in with a time of 2 minutes, 15.50 seconds in the 200-yard individual medley.

Boyer took the loss hard, especially since the Lions had beat Shawnee Mission Northwest during an invite last Tuesday.

Lawrence High's Zach Henderson races in the 200-yard freestyle during the Lions' meet against Shawnee Mission Northwest. The meet took place Tuesday at the LHS natatorium.

“I’m a little upset. I’d like to win a meet,” Boyer said. “I feel like I didn’t do my part today.”

Boyer was upset with his finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, as he came up nine hundredths of a second short of another first-place finish.

“I feel like I should have won the breaststroke. I felt like I just came up that short,” said Boyer, who was also on the medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay teams that placed second. “So I’m going to come to practice and use this to help – hopefully – push me to doing better next time.”

Boyer said he wants the team to use the loss as motivation for when they face Shawnee Mission Northwest in postseason competition.

“There’s nothing more satisfying than coming back on a team that you’ve already lost against, to go back and beat them again,” Boyer said. “But, at the same time, it’s a lot harder than it seems, because it takes 110 percent every single day and it just starts to wear on you after a while.”

LHS will have little time to regroup as Thursday they travel to Topeka to face a five-school field that includes cross-town rival Free State.

“Topeka is a really fast pool and times here at LHS are quite a bit slower than what would be at the Topeka pool,” Boyer said. “So we just need to keep it positive going into that meet and just do the best that we can. Because, being fully honest, we probably won’t go in there and win it, but we can shock some people and stun some people at the meet.”