LHS swimmers, divers chase state marks at home meet

Lawrence High freshman Mary Reed-Weston swims in the 200 IM during the LHS Invite on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at LHS.

Lawrence High freshman Brittany Archer swims the 200 freestyle during the LHS Invite on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at LHS.

Lawrence High sophomore Meg Peterson swims in the 200 freestyle during the LHS Invite on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at LHS.

Lawrence High sophomore Ashley Ammann finished second in the one-meter dive on Tuesday afternoon at the LHS Invitational. She couldn’t be happier.

Ammann scored 186.50 points, enough to qualify for the Class 6A state tournament. She was eight-tenths of a point away from making it last year, and jumped up and down Tuesday when her coach told her the news.

By the end of the meet, Ammann wasn’t the only one celebrating as the Lions won their five-team home meet, topping second-place Washburn Rural by just 10 points.

“I was very happy,” Ammann said. “I’ve been working so hard to (add degrees of) difficulty and I finally got it. It’s a great feeling.”

Ammann, who will join senior diver Allison Williams at state, said she felt more calm diving at LHS because she knew the nuances of the diving board.

“She has a good shot of placing at league,” LHS coach Kent McDonald said. “That means she probably has a good shot of placing at state, but she needed to get into state first. Now that she’s done that, that’s going to be some good points for us. Having two divers at state, that’s great.”

Freshman Mary Reed-Weston won the 200-yard individual medley and junior Alex Ginsberg was first in the 100-yard butterfly. Ginsberg also took third in the 200 IM and Reed-Weston was second in the 100-yard breaststroke. However, both of their winning times were a tad slower than their times last week at the Free State Invitational.

“It’s kind of hard because at the beginning of the season you drop a lot of time,” Reed-Weston said. “Then it kind of plateaus in the middle, so it’s hard to get through.”

LHS won two relays — the 200-yard medley and the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Hannah Lee, who fell just short of state consideration times when she placed second in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard breaststroke, contributed to both relay teams.

“It personally keeps my confidence level up, so that’s nice,” said Lee, who also third in the 100-yard breaststroke. “It’s also nice that we’re getting some points for the team. Even though we have state qualifying times, we can always drop our time.”

Though the LHS pool always seems to be a little slower than others, some swimmers found a way to improve their times. Junior Nicole Kelly barely missed out on a state consideration time during her fourth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, missing by 0.54 seconds, and freshman Meredith Von Feldt took third in the 100-yard backstroke.

“(Von Feldt is) really improving a lot,” McDonald said. “At the beginning of the season, she was even thinking about being a diver. I’m glad she didn’t because she’s going to be a really good backstroker.”

The Lions will swim in the Free State quad at 3:30 p.m. on Friday at FSHS.


Lawrence High Invitational

Tuesday at LHS

Team scores: Lawrence 430, Washburn Rural 420, Topeka High 226.5, Leavenworth 143.5, Shawnee Heights 130.

LHS results

200 medley relay — 1. Hannah Lee, Mary Reed-Weston, Alex Ginsberg, Nicole Oblon, 2:05.25. 4. Meredith Von Feldt, Mary Wroten, Vanesa Hernandez, Nicole Kelly, 2:18.13. 8. Taylor Schoepf, Bridget Smith, Abbie Treff, Christa Griffin, 2:29.94.

200 freestyle — 2. Brittany Archer, 2:15.12. 3. Genevieve Voigt, 2:22.96. 7. Meg Peterson, 2:35.15.

200 individual medley — 1. Mary Reed-Weston, 2:23.37. 3. Alex Ginsberg, 2:38.14. 10. Andrea Summey, 3:11.91.

50 freestyle — 2. Hannah Lee, 27.80. 4. Nicole Kelly, 28.20. 9. Vanesa Hernandez, 30.46. 16. Christa Griffin, 31.99. 18. Chandler Sells, 32.07. 20. Meredith Von Feldt, 32.48. 21. Taylor Schoepf, 33.03. 22. Susan Frick, 33.11. 23. Sarah Easum, 33.32. 25. Hanna Hall, 33.80. t-31. Taylor Nation, 35.17. 33. Abbie Treff, 35.30. 34. Kimberley Myers, 35.40. 35. Naomi Dale, 35.83. 36. Isabel Rummell, 35.89. 38. Bridget Smith, 36.08. 45. Julia Randolph, 36.74. 52. Bella Whittaker, 37.60. 53. Shahrzad Hajiarbabi, 37.73. 61. Jordan Myers, 39.87. 62. Baylee Shingleton, 40.84. 66. Christina Cho, 48.00.

One-meter diving — 2. Ashley Ammann, 186.50. 3. Allison Williams, 178.35. 9. Hannah Reed, 71.25.

100 butterfly — 1. Alex Ginsberg, 1:08.21. 7. Abbie Treff, 1:29.66. 9. Meg Peterson, 1:30.67.

100 freestyle — 2. Nicole Oblon, 1:01.10. 4. Nicole Kelly, 1:03.02. 5. Genevieve Voigt, 1:04.62.

500 freestyle — 2. Brittany Archer, 5:58.79. 5. Mary Wroten, 7:08.00. 8. Kimberley Myers, 7:43.08.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Hannah Lee, Nicole Kelly, Brittany Archer, Nicole Oblon, 1:53.15. 5. Meg Peterson, Vanesa Hernandez, Genevieve Voigt, Alex Ginsberg, 2:01.49. 9. Susan Frick, Chandler Sells, Abbie Treff, Christa Griffin, 2:15.06. 13. Hanna Hall, Taylor Nation, Isabel Rummell, Bridget Smith, 2:22.51. 14. Sarah Easum, Allison Williams, Hannah Reed, Ashley Ammann, 2:22.87. 15. Naomi Dale, Shahrzad Hajiarbabi, Julia Randolph, Mary Wroten, 2:24.36. 21. Christina Cho, Bella Whittaker, Baylee Shingleton, Jordan Myers, 2:48.45.

100 backstroke — 3. Meredith Von Feldt, 1:19.52. 4. Taylor Schoepf, 1:21.14. 6. Andrea Summey, 1:26.09.

100 breaststroke — 2. Mary Reed-Weston, 1:13.72. 3. Hannah Lee, 1:20.53. 6. Vanesa Hernandez, 1:28.12.

400 freestyle relay — 2. Nicole Oblon, Genevieve Voigt, Brittany Archer, Mary Reed-Weston, 4:05.13. 6. Meg Peterson, Christa Griffin, Meredith Von Feldt, Mary Wroten, 4:49.17. 8. Taylor Schoepf, Chandler Sells, Susan Frick, Andrea Summey, 5:08.56.