Free State freshman Will Libeer competes in the boys 200-yard individual medley. Libeer took fourth in the event Thursday at Free State, and the Firebirds won their five-team home meet.

To the untrained eye, it appeared that Washburn Rural High was well on its way to winning the Free State Invitational on Thursday afternoon at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center. The WRHS boys swimming and diving team won event after event, eventually bagging nine, while the home-team Firebirds finished first in only three.

But the Firebirds’ depth proved to be the difference as they won a meet for the first time this season, finishing with 440 points, while WRHS totaled just 417 to take second, well ahead of Bonner Springs, Junction City and Saint James Academy.

FSHS won the day’s first event when Nolan Frank, Tony Libeer, Alec Wroten and Kendall Harris finished first in the 200-yard medley relay. The Firebirds’ other two victories came in the 100-yard butterfly, won by senior Mitch Moore, and the 100-yard backstroke, won by freshman Frank.

Frank said the Firebirds’ overall performance, not the first-place finishes, proved to be the difference.

“It’s where you finish in the middle that gets you all the points,” Frank said. “The first-place victories are great, they keep your morale up, but what really counts are people finishing second, third, fourth, fifth.”

FSHS finished second in eight events and third in six, while WRHS took second in three and third in two.

“Washburn Rural is a really fast team,” said Frank, who also finished second in the 200-yard individual medley. “We just have depth and stamina – we can swim fast for long periods of time.”

FSHS coach Annette McDonald praised WRHS for its performance, but also complimented her Firebirds for not being discouraged by the second- and third-place finishes.

“Our times on almost every event were an improvement,” she said, adding that improved diving scores were also important since FSHS divers Kendall Goodden, Jeff Carmody and Dan Simons placed second through fourth in the one-meter diving event.

“They all just stepped up and, instead of focusing on winning, they were focusing on doing better individually,” McDonald said. “We’ve been working hard, and the goal was to swim faster, and we’re seeing a lot of good results from the swimmers and divers.”

Moore, who finished second in the 50-yard relay and swam on two second-place relay teams (the 200-yard freestyle with Julian McCafferty, Wroten and Eric Gruber, and the 400-yard freestyle with McCafferty, Harris and Libeer), credited McDonald for keeping the Firebirds positive despite midseason fatigue.

“This week we talked a lot about positive thinking, and we’ve kind of gone through that little slump of the middle of the season, and everyone’s getting tired,” Moore said. “Now morale is back up. We really want to go for league, and we really want to finish well.”

McDonald feels the team should have some confidence as the season wraps up during the next few weeks.

“We’re stronger, for sure, and I think the guys that are real close to either consideration times or state cut times are really motivated to put in the extra effort it takes to get there,” she said. “And then we’ll rest up for league, and hopefully we’ll be there for state.”

The Firebirds’ next meet will be 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at home. FSHS will play host to Blue Valley, Blue Valley West and Turner.