Lions dominate home swim meet, cruise to first place

Lawrence High girls swimming coach Kent McDonald wasn’t sure what to expect at the six-team Lawrence Invitational on Tuesday.

The Lions won their first meet, but McDonald was unsure where their conditioning was after spring break.

By the end of the home meet, McDonald’s was pleased after a dominating performance from his team. Lawrence won 11 of the 12 events, and took first place with 466 points, 221 points ahead of runner-up Lansing.

“I think overall we swam really well,” McDonald said. “It’s our first home meet, so we always get excited for it, and we usually do pretty well.”

Sophomore Emily Guo led the Lions, winning the 200 individual medley, the 100 butterfly and helping out on the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.

“For this first meet there wasn’t a lot of pressure, so it was more just seeing how fast I could go,” Guo said. “I raced faster because I was trying to race instead of trying to beat a time.”

The 100-yard butterfly was Guo’s only close call of the day, but she was able to squeak by Shawnee Mission North’s Joely Merriam by less than a second.

McDonald noted that he was pleased with the way his top diver, sophomore Eden Kingery, bounced back after a rough first meet. She won with 176.45 points.

Most of all, McDonald was pleased with the balance and depth his team showed, which included event winners Morgan Jones (200 freestyle), Marian Frick (50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke), Jamie Abernathy (100 freestyle) and Jillian Wilson (500 freestyle).

“We’re not used to that, but we’re enjoying it,” McDonald said. “Our new swimmers are really starting to come together now.”

Even with the Lions’ hot start, McDonald knows there is still a lot of room for improvement early in the season.

“We still need to work on the basics,” McDonald said. “The starts and turns are the biggest way to improve the times.”

Lawrence will play host Shawnee Mission South for a dual at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Lawrence High Invitational

Tuesday at LHS

Team scores: Lawrence 466, Lansing 245, Shawnee Mission West 208, Shawnee Mission North 173, De Soto 162, Piper 115

LHS results

200 medley relay — 1. Maddie Dean, Marian Frick, Emily Guo, Megan Drumm, 1:55.21; 4. Jillian Wilson, Payton Gunderson, Brooke Wroten, Chandler Sells, 2:07.61.

200 freestyle — 1. Morgan Jones, 2:05.77; 2. Payton Gunderson, 2:12.69; 7. Kimberly Myers, 2:30.00.

200 individual medley — 1. Emily Guo, 2:12; 3. Maddie Dean, 2:26.34; 5. Mary Reed-Weston, 2:36.62.

50 freestyle — 1. Marian Frick, 26.49; 3. Jamie Abernathy, 27.72; 5. Brooke Wroten, 28.10; 7. Chandler Sells, 28.58; 10. Meredith Von Feldt, 29.47; 15. Vanessa Hernandez, 30.31; 17. Alicia Ruder, 31.00; 20. Lisa Yang, 31.25; 21. Lillian Wilson-Lewis, 31.64; 22. Haven Bellerive, 31.72; 26. Laura Leach, 32.14; 27. Kendra Yergey, 32.24; 33. Eleanor Matheis, 33.25; 39. Skylar Steichen, 33.86; 40. Allison Ramaley, 33.91; 42. Rachel Nikolov, 34.02; 48. Arianna Arenth-Myers, 34.77; 51. Emily Johnson, 34.93; 54. Ana Lopez, 35.33; 56. Madeline Johnson, 35.84; 58. Sydney Pritchard, 36.07; 59. Emily Gordon-Ross, 36.51; 63. Emily Kruse, 37.01; 66. Izzy Hedges, 37.48; 68. Megan Durner, 37.87; 80. Deborah Hwang, 40.34; 85. Lexi Martell, 42.05; 88. Clara Severn, 42.62; 92. Shikeyah Brunello, 43.79; 99. Isabel Mann, 45.43; 100. Aurelia Balcazar, 47.76.

One-meter diving — 1. Eden Kingery, 176.45.

100 butterfly — 1. Emily Guo, 59.71; 3. Morgan Jones, 1:07.18; 9. Meredith Von Feldt, 1:25.59.

100 freestyle — 1. Jamie Abernathy, 59.05; 2. Megan Drumm, 59.06; 5. Chandler Sells, 1:02.44;.

500 freestyle — 1. Jillian Wilson, 6:00.09; 3. Kimberly Myers, 6:43.57; 5. Eleanor Matheis, 7:09.17.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Jamie Abernathy, Chandler Sells, Morgan Jones, Megan Drumm, 1:51.83; 6. Payton Gunderson, Vanessa Hernandez, Alicia Ruder, Lisa Yang, 1:59.93; 7. Lillian Lewis-Wilson, Haven Bellerive, Laura Leach, Kimberly Myers, 2:07.41; 12. Kendra Yergey, Meadow Garcia, Liz Paxton, Sara Gorski, 2:15.22; 16. Megan Durner, Sydney Pritchard, Emily Johnson, Allison Ramaley, 2:22.79; 22. Emily Kruse, Madeline Johnson, Clara Severn, Deborah Hwang, 2:36.20; 26. Shikeyah Brunello, Emily Gordon-Ross, Isabel Mann, Lexi Martell, 2:48.87.

100 backstroke — 2. Maddie Dean, 1:04.76; 4. Mary Weston-Reed, 1:11.14; 5. Jillian Wilson, 1:11.26;

100 breastroke — 1. Marian Frick, 1:08.21; 3. Payton Gunderson, 1:16.03; 8. Vanessa Hernandez, 1:26.32.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Emily Guo, Megan Drumm, Maddie Dean, Jamie Abernathy, 3:56.76; 2. Morgan Jones, Mary Weston-Reed, Brooke Wroten, Marian Frick, 4:06.28; 6. Meredith Von Feldt, Lillian Wilson-Lewis, Kimberly Myers, Jillian Wilson, 4:42.55.