The Free State 200 medley relay team is all smiles after winning the race on Saturday at the state swim meet in Topeka.

Topeka ? The end result may not have been what the Firebirds had hoped for. But it wasn’t because they struggled to rise to the occasion.

Saturday, at the Class 6A state swimming finals at Hummer Sports Complex Natatorium, the Free State High girls swimming team turned in 10 championship-flight times faster than Friday’s preliminary times and walked away with third place, one year after winning it all.

“We didn’t swim as well as we wanted,” said junior Chloe Portela, one of two Firebirds to earn first-team all-state honors Saturday. “But we did the best we could and I think everyone was happy with that.”

For a while Saturday, it looked as if the Firebirds, who finished third with 243 points, — Shawnee Mission East won the title with 276 and Washburn Rural was second with 265 — might have had what it took to defend their title.

The 200 medley relay team of Portela, Heather Clark, Morgan Flannigan and Reilly Moore kicked off the meet with a victory in the opening race. Flannigan, the other first-team all-stater, followed that with a victory in the 200 free and the Firebirds appeared to be on their way.

“We really wanted to start out well,” Flannigan said. “And I think everyone was a little more motivated after the start we had.”

No kidding. All four members of that relay team contributed top-four finishes Saturday, with Portela taking second in both the 100 backstroke (57.27) and the 100 butterfly (56.77), Flannigan winning the 200 free and finishing third in the 500 free, Clark taking third in the 100 backstroke (just a half second behind Portela) and Moore finishing fourth in the 100 breaststroke.

“The girls did a fabulous job,” FSHS coach Annette McDonald said. “They raced. It was an all-out race the whole time, and isn’t that what it’s all about?”

Kara Mishler (fifth in the 100 fly), Kayla Hedges (on two relay teams in the finals) and Adriane Black (who swam one leg of the 200 free relay that finished eighth) also contributed to the Firebirds’ latest addition to the school’s trophy case. But few Firebirds summed up the day better than Moore, who had an up-and-down afternoon but found a way to finish strong.

On two occasions during the early events, tears flowed down Moore’s face as she absorbed what she deemed to be disappointing times. With one race remaining in her season, the FSHS junior knocked two seconds off of her best butterfly time in the second-to-last event. As a smile slipped onto her face to accompany a small pump of her fist, the tears returned. This time, they were tears of joy.

“Today was a bit of a struggle,” Moore said. “We had a lot of things not go our way today and we were fighting uphill most of the day. But I’m really happy that we were able to rise above it and finish with third, which is awesome.”

Moore and Clark earned second-team all-state honors. They were joined on that squad by LHS freshman Heather Cistola, who took seventh in the 500 free (5:19.97) and eighth in the 200 free (1:59.87). Cistola’s efforts for the Lions were trumped only by LHS senior Jessica Boyer, who placed fourth in the 100 fly, the final race of her high school career.

“I’m just happy that I actually had a good meet here for once,” Boyer said. “This was the first time that I’ve come here and actually done well.”

As for Cistola, who figures to have three more trips to state in her future, she learned two valuable lessons Saturday.

“It was way bigger than I expected,” she said. “And I learned to always practice hard because it will pay off.”

LHS scored 47 points and finished 15th in the team standings.