Lawrence High girls swimming seniors Chelsea Dirks-Ham and Marianne Klovning left quite the mark in their final home meet at Carl Knox Natatorium on Tuesday.

LAWRENCE HIGH SENIOR CHELSEA DIRKS-HAM swims the 100-yard butterfly on Senior Day at the Carl Knox Natatorium. Dirks-Ham won two individual events and swam on two winning relays Tuesday as the Lions dominated a five-team meet in their home pool.

The pair accounted for six of the Lions’ 12 first-place finishes, making for a clean sweep in the five-team meet and putting LHS on top in the team race at 571 points.

Second-place Topeka High finished with 307.

“It’s a big meet and we’ve been looking forward to it for a long time – focused on it and the teams,” Klovning said.

The most impressive feat came from Dirks-Ham in the 500-yard freestyle. She was given the opportunity to compete in any race for Senior Day and decided to race the 500 for the first time.

She clocked in with a winning time of 5 minutes, 28.85 seconds – her closest finisher another minute behind. The time also qualified her for state in the event – topping the qualifying time of 5:44.20.

“We have a choice where to swim her now at state,” LHS coach Kent McDonald said. “I think I already know, but we do have that choice. … She’s a level above most other high school swimmers in any stroke. She can do any stroke and win almost any meet.”

Dirks-Ham had another win in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.59 – beating teammate Elle Weber’s second-place finish of 1:04.32.

Klovning also won two individual events, claiming first in the 50 and 100 freestyle races. But the 100 free wasn’t an easy task for Klovning, as she had to close on Topeka High’s Anna Hamilton in the final 25 yards to win by .04 with her time of 1:00.34.

“It was just a close race and it was very fun to win it,” said Klovning, who had a time of 27.41 in the 50 free.

Dirks-Ham and Klovning each picked up two additional wins in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay when they paired up with freshmen Weber – who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.73 – and Jessica Boyer – winner in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:23.34.

Their times in the medley relay (2:00.45) and the free relay (4:02.55) were never really contested.

Lawrence High’s team of Emma Mercer, Claire Frost, Lauren Ollila and Paula Kyriakos – the 100 backstroke winner – finished seven seconds back in the 200 medley relay, while the team of Eva Wehrle, Frost, Madeleine Neet and Erina Houk was 28 seconds behind in the 400 free relay.

“Everybody on the relay was strong and so that helped,” Dirks-Ham said. “We really came together as a team and just did the best we could. It was what it took to win.”

Seniors Mercer, Clarissa Wagner, Amanda Fredrickson and Kelsey Montgomery were also recognized during the break following the diving event – which junior Mallory West won with a score of 210.

Wagner’s best finishes came in the 500 free, where she came in third with a time of 6:50.17, and on the fifth-place 400 free relay with Fredrickson and juniors Kyriakos and Erin Thimmesch.

Fredrickson was also teamed with Montgomery on the sixth-place 200 free relay team with sophomore Kati Wheatley and freshman Katie Stites.

Mercer was part of the winning 200 free relay with Lauren Ollila, Eva Wehrle and Erina Houk – who also won the 200 free.