Free State swimmer Aidan Goetz cuts through the water during the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle event on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016 at the Indoor Aquatic Center.

Many members of the Free State swim and dive team couldn’t help themselves from checking the team scores after every event.

FSHS and Shawnee Mission South traded places in the top two spots for much of the evening. But in the end, the Firebirds fell just short, placing second in their season-opening home quadrangular Wednesday at Indoor Aquatic Center.

“A little disappointed but the guys raced really well,” Free State coach Annette McDonald said. “A lot of times were dropped from last year. You can see improvement and they are really excited about that.”

Free State finished with 359 points as a team, which was just two points shy of the meet’s champion.

The narrow defeat was certainly a disappointing start to the 2016-17 campaign, especially for a team that has finished third in state each of the last two year. But in a way, it might have been the best possible outcome.

“It can motivate them to go harder and faster,” McDonald said. “A couple people were sick and this is how important it is for everyone to be there for the team. Those kind of things make a difference and they learn from it.”

Even though the Firebirds were not in full force, they were still able to win three of the 12 events.

Skylar Eklund claimed first in the one-meter dive. Eklund scored 224.85 points, which was good enough to qualify him for state. Eklund also qualified for state in the first meet last year.

“I thought I did all right on my doubles,” Eklund said. “I have been practicing on those and trying to improve on my twisters. All the other divers were really good.”

Jake Viscomi was the other FSHS individual winner. Viscomi narrowly edged Josh Buss of Shawnee Mission South in the 100 backstroke. Viscomi clocked a time of 1:04.09 while Buss punched a 1:04.10.

However, that was not the only close race of the evening.

The Firebirds’ quartet — Sydney Lin, Corey Schultz-Bever, Dean Stuart and Cameron Hodge — clinched a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their time of 1:38.18 was good enough to edge Leavenworth’s relay team, which recorded a time of 1:38.31.

“You can race off people,” Lin said. “If it’s really close like that it gives you the tension. That usually doesn’t happen. We just gave it our all and I’m proud of us.”

LHS places third

Lawrence High had a strong start to the new season after coming off the school’s best finish (eighth at state) since 2002.

In Wednesday’s quadrangular, Lawrence placed third with 325 points despite several new faces. Leavenworth finished well behind the pack with a mark of 264.

“It was the first meet for half our team,” LHS coach Kent McDonald said. “We have been working for three weeks and our team finally figured out what they had been working for.”

Lawrence High's Stephen Johnson gives some encouragement to a teammate during the Boys 200 Yard Medley Race on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016 at the Indoor Aquatic Center.

Even with half of the squad made up of new swimmers, the Lions notched one-third of the event crowns, with four first-place finishes.

Alex Heckman claimed two of the team’s four golds. Heckman won the 50 freestyle (22.46) by over a second and the 100 freestyle (50.43) by nearly three full seconds.

Stephen Johnson completed the sweep with a victory in the 500 freestyle by a time of 4:55.17. Both Heckman and Johnson were the final two legs in the 400-yard freestyle relay team, which notched first to close out the meet.

“We were hoping our experienced guys would come through,” McDonald said. “We did qualify for state, which is good.”

Both Free State and Lawrence will travel to Manhattan for a triangular at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Free State quadrangular

Wednesday at Free State

Team scores: Shawnee Mission South 361, Free State 359, Lawrence 325, Leavenworth 264.

FSHS, LHS results

200 medley relay — 3. Alex Heckman, Dylan Beierschbach, Stephen Johnson, Patrick Oblon, L, 1:50.02; 4. Aidan Goertz, Sydney Lin, Corey Schultz-Bever, Cameron Hodge, FS, 1:51.49; 5. Jake Viscomi, John Loos, Finneas Nesbitt-Daly, Dean Stuart, FS, 1:56.37; 8. Jaren Miller, Brian Myers, Treyton Trujillo, Noah Kucza, L, 2:10.40; 9. David Stuart, Jack Kelsey, Eugene Galvez, Christopher Woodward, FS, 2:16.96; 10. James Lynch, Lofan Frose, Sam Phillips, Luke Dunlap, L, 2:17.74; 11. Ethan Perrins, Ben Aldridge, Trent Hartman, Declan Forth, FS, 2:18.80; 13. Cameron Walters, Reed Pfeifer, Josh Axlund, Anton Grundstrom, L, 2:20.85.

200 freestyle — 2. Aidan Goertz, FS, 2:09.26; 3. Jakob Busch, L, 2:17.99; 6. Chase Root, L, 2:30.26; 8. Luke Dunlap, L, 2:43.51; 9. David Stuart, FS, 2:49.58; 10. Anton Grundstrom, L, 2:57.12; 11. Nicholas Burket, FS, 2:57.84.

200 individual medley — 2. Stephen Johnson, L, 2:05.51; 3. Corey Schultz-Bever, FS, 2:16.80; 5. Ben Aldridge, FS, 2:20.16; 7. John Loos, FS, 2:25.99; 8. Brian Myers, L, 2:39.15; 10. Dylan Bierschbach, L, 2:53.76; 11. Ethan Perrins, FS, 2:59.05.

50 freestyle — 1. Alex Heckman, L, 22.46; 3. Cameron Hodge, FS, 24.65; 4. Patrick Oblon, L, 24.83; 5. Sydney Lin, FS, 24.90; 6. Dean Stuart, FS, 25.29; 7. Jared Miller, L, 26.00; 8. Eugen Galvez, FS, 26.24; 9. Ross Lutzkanin, L, 26.44; 13. Will Bellemere, L, 26.83; 16. Jadon Ballinger, FS, 27.28;

One-meter diving — 1. Skylar Eklund, FS, 224.85; 5. Anton Martinez, L, 172.05; 7. Carson Juhl, FS, 124.30; 8. Patrick Steinbach, L, 123.45.

100 butterfly — 5. Jake Viscomi, FS, 1:02.84; 6. Ross Lutzkanin, L, 1:09.94; 7. Finneas Nesbitt-Daly, FS, 1:12.80; 8. Treyton Truhillo, L, 1:14.94; 9. Christopher Woodward, FS, 1:21.58.

100 freestyle — 1. Alex Heckman, L, 50.43; 3. Aidan Goertz, FS, 53.93; 7. Cameron Hodge, 57.14; 10. Will Bellemere, L, 1:01.50; 12. Noah Kucza, L, 1:02.09; 13. Eugene Galvez, FS, 1:02.65; 16. Matthew Mchenry, FS, 1:05.20; 18. Josh Axlund, L, 1:06.36; 24. James Morton, FS, 1:10.71.

500 freestyle — 1. Stephen Johnson, L, 4:55.17; 4. John Loos, FS, 5:52.45; 5. Ben Aldridge, FS, 5:53.06; 6. Jakob Busch, L, 6:35.40; 7. Treyton Trujillo, L, 6:40.52; 8. Chase Root, L, 6:52.47; 10. Finneas Nesbitt-Daly, FS, 6:55.12.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Sydney Lin, Corey Schultz-Bever, Dean Stuart, Cameron Hodge, FS, 1:38.18; 4. Jared Miller, Brian Myers, Ross Lutzkanin, Noah Kucza, L, 1:48.25; 7. Christopher Woodward, Jadon Ballinger, Skylar Eklund, Eugen Galvez, FS, 1:55.45; 8. Josh Axlund, Andrew Severn, Anton Grundstrom, Dylan Bierschbach, L, 1:56.74; 9. James Lynch, Sam Phillips, Luke Dunlap, Devin Van Schmus, L, 2:00.97; 11. David Stuart, Carson Juhl, Declan Forth, Jack Kelsey, FS, 2:03.40; 13. Anton Martinez de Velasco, Will Bellemere, Nathan Stoddard, JJ Smith, L, 2:08.23; 14. Remington Eakin, Davis Reed, Hunter Jones, Logan Grose, L, 2:09.37; Nicholas Burket, Kalib Wilson, Aaron Guo, Matthew Mchenry, FS, 2:11.98.

100 backstroke — 1. Jake Viscomi, FS, 1:04.09; 5. Trent Hartman, FS, 1:16.38; 8. Hayden Husman, L, 1:18.92; 9. Christopher Woodward, FS, 1:21.49; 11. Ethan Perrins, FS, 1:28.43; 12. Cameron Walters, L, 1:31.39; 13. Nicholas Burket, FS, 1:33.21; 14. Braden Augustine, L, 1:33.56; 17. Luis Torres, 1:41.80; 18. Brian Camerena, L, 2:08.40.

100 breaststroke — 2. Corey Schultz-Bever, FS, 1:05.02; 3. Sydney Lin, FS, 1:12.59; 4. Dylan Bierschbach, L, 1:18.08; 7. Brian Meyers, L, 1:19.18; 9. Reed Pfeifer, L, 1:25.31; 10. Jadon Ballinger, FS, 1:26.10; Logan Grose, L, 1:27.47; 14. Jack Kelsey, FS, 1:31.01; 15. Josh Axlund, L, 1:35.28; 16. Aaron Guo, FS, 1:35.28.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Patrick Oblon, Noah Kucza, Alex Heckman, Stephen Johsnon, L, 3:36.48; 3. Jake Viscomi, John Loos, Dean Stuart, Aidan Goertz, FS, 3:51.28; 4. Jakob Busch, Ross Lutzkanin, Jared Miller, Treyton Trujillo, L, 4:13.03; 6. Ben Aldridge, Trent Hartman, Ethan Perrins, Finneas Nesbitt-Daly, FS, 4:20.96; 8. Hayden Husman, Braden Augustine, Anton Grundstrom, Devin Van Schmus, L, 4:37.27; 9. Sam Phillips, Andrew Severn, James Lynch, Chase Root, L, 4:41.50.