Lions swimming sends off seniors with dominant win

Lawrence Invitational

Team results: Lawrence 478, Topeka West 260, Shawnee Heights 203, Topeka 202, Leavenworth 129.

Lawrence results

200 medley relay: 1. Lawrence A (Miranda Rohn, Gretchen Frick, Heather Cistola, Nicole Oblon) (2:00.69); 4. Lawrence B (Sarah Smoot, Hannah Lee, Alex Ginsberg, Annie Odrowski) (2:15.55); 7. Lawrence C (Emily Murphy, Mary Wroten, Madison Ruder, Abbie Wise) (2:30.26).

200 freestyle: 1. Heather Cistola (2:03.92); 2. Taylor Schoepf (2:39.24); 4. Taryn Reed (2:48.57).

200 IM: 1. Ginsberg (2:36.99).

50 freestyle: 1. Oblon (27.51); 3. Odrowski (28.11); 4. Nicole Kelly (28.93); 5. Smoot (29.19); 7. Ruder (30.35); 12. Schoepf (31.75); 13. Wise (31,90); 17. Karlie Rosenberger (33.12); 18. Meg Peterson (33.13); 19. Katie Dilley (33.38).

1m diving: 1. Allison Williams (196.05); 3. Ashley Ammann (152.80); 5. Lindsey Fangman (135.75).

100 butterfly: 1. Frick (1:03.32); 4. Lee (1:14.69); 5. Andrea Summey (1:26.95).

100 freestyle: 1. Cistola (58.33); 2. Odrowski (1:01.80); 3. Kelly (1:03.28).

500 freestyle: 1. Rohn (5:40.27); 3. Ginsberg (5:57.22); 4. Wroten (6:46.26).

200 freestyle: 1. Lawrence A (Odrowski, Smoot, Lee, Oblon) (1:53.74); 3. Lawrence B (Ruder, Schoepf, Wise, Kelly) (2:00.77); 6. Lawrence C (Dilley, Summey, Rosenberger, Davison) (2:11.89); 10. Lawrence D (Josie Myers, Martina Urbinati, Elizabeth Schmidtberger, Meg Peterson) (2:23.96); 12. Lawrence E (Bella Whittaker, Shahrzad Hajiarbabi, Taylor Nation, Hanna Hall) (2:38.41).

100 backstroke: 3. Rohn (1:04.91); 6. Taryn Reed (1:28.28); 8. Emily Murphy (1:32.45).

100 breaststroke: 2. Frick (1:16.81); 4. Lee (1:21.17); 5. Wroten (1:27.48).

400 freestyle relay: 1. Lawrence A (Cistola, Smoot, Rohn, Frick) (4:04.07); 2. Lawrence B (Kelly, Ruder, Ginsberg, Oblon) (4:16.65); 4. Lawrence C (Wise, Peterson, Rosenberger, Reed) (5:05.35).

Lawrence High girls swimming coach Kent McDonald had seen the seed times before Tuesday’s Senior Night races, and he knew the Lions should be able to win. He just had no idea how easily the LHS swimmers would pull it off at the last home meet of the season.

Lawrence had more talented swimmers than the other four teams, and won 10 of the 12 events. The Lions’ 478 team points couldn’t be touched by runner-up Topeka West (260).

“They all get kind of psyched up swimming at home,” McDonald said.

Senior Heather Cistola won the 200 free, 100 free and swam on victorious 200 medley and 400 free relay teams in her home finale. She deemed the afternoon, full of LHS teammates cheering each other on to victory after victory, the perfect way to go out.

“All of us, not just the seniors, have been working really, really hard,” Cistola said. “It just paid off here. It was fun.”

Lawrence’s other individual winners were Alex Ginsberg (200 IM), Nicole Oblon (50 free), Allison Williams (1-meter diving), Gretchen Frick (100 fly) and Miranda Rohn (500 free). Rohn, Frick, Cistola and Oblon won the 200 medley. Annie Odrowski, Sarah Smoot, Hannah Lee and Oblon took first in the 200 free relay. The meet closed with Cistola, Smoot, Rohn and Frick winning the 400 free relay and the Lions earned second place in that race, too, with Nicole Kelly, Madison Ruder, Ginsberg and Oblon.

Like their coach, the Lions, Cistola said, almost couldn’t believe the way they dominated.

“We were hoping for it, definitely, but you never know what the other team will bring,” she said.

One of the meet’s highlights actually came with a third-place finish. Ginsberg consistently had come up short of a state consideration time in the 500 free this season. Her best time previously had been 6:01 and she never could crack the 6:00 barrier. The junior thought Tuesday’s race was more of the same.

“I actually felt like that was a really bad 500, because I felt really exhausted, and that’s how my really bad 500s feel,” she said afterward.

In fact, she finished to see Rohn screaming in the pool next to her, celebrating after Ginsberg earned a consideration time of 5:57.22.

McDonald said Ginsberg had doggedly chased such a time all season.

“She didn’t just do it by a little bit,” the coach pointed out, “she did it by several seconds.”

Ginsberg said the team title should give LHS a boost.

“I would love my night to be like this when I’m a senior,” she added.