Most of the year, the Lawrence High swim team has been so close, only to fall just short of Free State on the final scoreboard.

That was the case during Thursday’s meet at LHS. The Lions actually led through the first half of the quadrangular, before the Firebirds rattled off four of the last six available victories to take first place as a team.

FSHS scored a total of 447 points to clinch its sixth win of the season, while Lawrence finished in second with a score of 422. Olathe South and Shawnee Mission South rounded out the event with 268 and 162 points, respectively.

“In the past, Free State wouldn’t even be worried about us,” LHS coach Kent McDonald said. “But I think they were a little concerned today. We weren’t at a 100 percent, so I didn’t think we would be where we were. The girls really competed today.”

Despite competing without Morgan Jones, LHS clinched half of the golds on the afternoon. Emily Guo notched two individual wins in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly. For the former, she clocked a 2:12:34 and recorded a butterfly time of 1:01.13.

In addition, Guo served as the third leg on the first-place 200 medley relay team. She also was the anchor of the winning 400 freestyle relay team, which took first, even though they did not have a lead until she leaped into the pool.

“She did great today,” McDonald said of Guo. “We were pretty sure when she started the last leg of the 400 relay, that she would win it because she competes and doesn’t want to get beat.”

Normally Guo struggles with nerves before each race, but McDonald said she appeared much calmer Thursday.

In total, Guo contributed to four of the six crowns for the Lions. Maddie Dean, Marian Frick and Megan Drumm all were apart of the 200 medley relay quartet, which started off the meet with a win. Jamie Abernathy, Dean, Drumm and Guo closed it out with a time of 3:49.13 in the 400 free relay.

Frick also took first in the 100 breaststroke, with a time of 1:08.88. Eden Kingery scored 210.50 points to notch the one-meter dive and give Lawrence an advantage in the team scores midway through the meet.

Free State wins again

The Firebirds were also without some of their key competitors, but still won five events en route to another first-place finish. FSHS has now won all but two of its eight meets on the season.

“What I loved was that everybody stepped up,” FSHS coach Annette McDonald said. “This was a really exciting meet. Everyone was cheering each other on.”

Free State’s only relay win came in the 200 freestyle relay. Charlotte Crandall, Ava Cormaney, Kasey Dunn, and Claire Campbell posted a time of 1:44.21, two seconds faster than LHS.

Campbell also clinched two individual events, with wins in the 200 freestyle (1:56.44) and 100 backstroke (1:01.30). Janet Stefanov and Kasey Dunn each won back-to-back events in the 100 free and 500 free, respectively, to pave the way for the comeback.

In fact, the Firebirds had the top-three swimmers of the 500 free, which was more than enough to put some distance on their crosstown foe in the team scores.

“Sometimes you think, oh the 500, they went one-two-three,” McDonald said. “Well they were racing. They were putting it out there and helping each other along. But they still all wanted to win.”

Both diving teams will travel to Shawnee Mission South at 9 a.m. Saturday. The full teams will return to the pool for the Sunflower League meet on May 5.

Lawrence quad

Thursday at LHS

Team scores; Free State 447, Lawrence 422, Olathe South 268, SM North 162.

LHS, FSHS results

200 medley relay — 1. Maddie Dean, Marian Frick, Emily Guo, Megan Drumm, L, 1:54.87; 2. Ainsley Krug, Ava Cormaney, Claire Campbell, Charlotte Crandall, FS, 1:56.17; 3. Janet Stefanov, Kara Krannawitter, Norah Agah, Gracie Caldwell, FS, 1:59.32; 4. Killian Wilson, Payton Gunderson, Brooke Wroten, Chandler Sells, L, 2:07.09.

200 freestyle — 1. Claire Campbell, FS, 1:56.44; 3. Hailei Detwiler, FS, 2:14.28; 5. Anna Welton, FS, 2:22.41; 6. Sydney Williams, FS, 2:27.71; 7. Kimberly Myers, L, 2:30.78; 9. Haven Bellerive, L, 2:36.49; 10. Rachel Nikolov, L, 2:45.72.

200 individual medley — 1. Emily Guo, L, 2:12.34; 2. Maddie Dean, L, 2:24.33; 3. Lydia Zicker, FS, 2:26.12; 4. Charlotte Crandall, FS, 2:28.02; 5. Mary Weston-Reed, L, 2:29.15; 6. Nora Agah, FS, 2:38.09.

50 freestyle — 2. Marian Frick, L, 26.74; 3. Jamie Abernathy, L, 26.94; 4. Gracie Caldwell, FS, 27.26; 5. Kara Krannawitter, FS, 27.68; 6. Chandler Sells, L, 28.32; 7. Lexie Lockwood, FS, 28.65.

One-meter diving — 1. Eden Kingery, L, 210.50; 3. Grace Mayhew, FS, 187.30.

100 butterfly — 1. Emily Guo, L, 1:01.13; 2. Kasey Dunn, FS, 1:02.24; 3. Gracie Caldwell, FS, 1:04.57; 4. Nora Agah, FS, 1:05.96; 5. Megan Drumm, L, 1:05.96; 7. Richa Joshi, FS, 1:16.15; 8. Meredith Von Feldt, L, 1:20.74.

100 freestyle — 1. Janet Stefanov, FS, 58.01; 2. Jamie Abernathy, L, 58.16; Payton Gunderson, L, 59.47; Charlotte Crandall, FS, 59.69; 5. Brooke Wroten, L, 59.83; 8. Anna Welton, FS, 1:03.71.

500 freestyle — 1. Kasey Dunn, FS, 5:28.52; 2. Ava Cormaney, FS, 5:30.14; 3. Ainsley Krug, FS, 5:30.27; 4. Jillian Wilson, L, 6:05.43; 6. Naomi Soderling, FS, 6:37.61; 7. Kimberly Myers, L, 6:37.81; 8. Eleanor Matheis, L, 6:51.16.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Charlotte Crandall, Ava Cormaney, Kasey Dunn, Claire Campbell, FS, 1:44.21; 2. Marian Frick, Jamie Abernathy, Payton Gunderson, Megan Drumm,L, 1:46.54; 3. Brooke Wroten, Haven Bellerive, Chandler Sells, Mary Reed-Wston, L, 1:53.10; 4. Kara Krannawitter, Anna Welton, Nora Agah, Lydia Zicker, FS, 1:53.66.

100 backstroke — 1, Claire Campbell, FS, 1:01.30; 2. Ainsley Krug, FS, 1:03.33; 3. Janet Stefanov, FS, 1:04.28; 4. Maddie Dean, L, 1:04.49; 6. Hailei Detwiler, FS, 1:07.16; 7. Anna Harrits, FS, 1:09.59; 8. Jillian Wilson, L, 1:12.76; 11. Meredith Von Feldt, L, 1:17.51.

100 breaststroke — 1. Marian Frick, L, 1:08.88; 2. Ava Cormaney, FS, 1:12.68; 3. Kara Krannawitter, FS, 1:14.13; 4. Mary Reed-Weston, L, 1:14.74; 5. Courtney Cruickshank, FS, 1:15.98; 6. Payton Gunderson, L, 1:17.80.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Jamie Abernathy, Maddie Dean, Megan Drumm, Emily Guo, L, 3:49.13; 2. Janet Stefanov, Kasey Dunn, Ainsley Krug, Gracie Caldwell, FS, 3:52.18; 3. Broke Wroten, Jillian Wilson, Chandler Sells, Mary Reed-Weston, L, 4:13.46; 4. Sydney Williams, Hailei Detwiler, Maggie Ziegler, Lydia Zicker, FS, 4:20.15.