Free State senior Chad Anderson (pink) and LHS sophomore Tyler Jones (red cap) are neck-and-neck in the 500 yard freestyle race during the Sunflower League meet on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019, at Summit Trail Middle School in Olathe.

Both city swim teams have been building for this moment all season.

Free State and Lawrence High boys swim teams will be in action this weekend at the state meet at Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka. Preliminaries are slated to take place Friday, while finals will occur Saturday.

“What’s really exciting is, our best times were at league, and we are ready to swim faster at state,” FSHS coach Annette McDonald said. “We keep looking at details. We are not changing anything.”

Free State will send nine swimmers to perform at the state meet, while Lawrence will have seven competing this weekend.

Despite the similar numbers, the expectations are a bit different for both squads. The Firebirds, who finished fifth as a team last year, have hopes of cracking the top five once again. The Lions, who took home a pair of individual state titles last year, will be focused on making it to the finals in all of their qualified events.

“Last year, we had a guy that won state in two events,” LHS head coach Kent McDonald said. “We don’t have that expectation now, but we have a bunch of seniors. We want them to finish well.”

Both programs will have all three relays in the preliminaries. Free State has the top seed in the 200-yard medley relay, while being listed in the top-four in the 400-yard freestyle relay and 200-yard freestyle relay.

The Firebirds also have a number of individuals with a good seeding ahead of the state meet. Sophomore Reilly Moore is the top seed in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly. Freshman Benjamin Vorthmann has the top qualified time in the 100-yard freestyle, and he’s also the third seed in the 50 freestyle.

Seniors Chad Anderson and Jake Viscomi along with sophomore Riley Sirimongkhon-Dyck all have a shot of netting podium finishes as well. Anderson is the fifth seed in the 500 freestyle and ranked sixth in the 200 freestyle. Viscomi is fifth in 100 butterfly and sixth in 100 backstroke. Sirimongkhon-Dyck is listed at seventh in the 100 breastroke.

“We are seeded to do really, really well in all of our individuals and some of our relays,” Viscomi said. “We are hoping to move up in preliminaries and stay there in finals.”

For the Lions, only two individuals made the cut outside of the relay races.

Sophomore Tyler Jones will be competing in two events, and is looking for a podium finish. Sophomore Giovani Lule-Paredes will race in the 500 freestyle after qualifying for the event during the last meet of the season.

Jones, who finished ninth in the 500 freestyle last year, has his eyes set on cracking the top-eight this time around. He’s currently seeded 12th in the event, but believes he has done enough to post his best performance this weekend.

“Last year, in the 500, my time was a little bit slower than it is now,” Jones said. “I think that people might not be on their A game, and I’m going to try to be on my A game for prelims so I can get in the top eight.”

Jones will also race in the 200 individual medley, a race he’s seeded 19th in. It is an event he’s only done twice this year, as Jones did it in the third meet of the year before shaving seven seconds off his time in the Sunflower League meet.

“I’m hoping it says that he has more upside there,” McDonald said. “In the 200 IM, I think if he works on his starts and turns, then he can drop some of his time. He can do everything, so we are letting him do everything.”

Rodman earns medal at league meet

Lawrence High junior Emilie Rodman led all city bowlers with a fifth-place medal at the Sunflower League meet.

As a team, the LHS girls bowling team placed sixth at the league meet. Rodman rolled a series score of 564, including a 225 in her final game. The LHS boys placed seventh as a team, as Jayden Cress led the way with a 601.

For Free State, the girls bowling team placed ninth as a team. Lexie Lockwood was the top finisher with a 481 series score. Michael Tennyson was the top scorer for the boys bowling team (10th) with a 535 series score.

Both teams were back in action the next day as well. Lawrence finished fourth at the Washburn quadrangular in both the girls and boys competition. Lorenzo Dan led the boys with a 589, and Rodman paced the girls with a 489.

Free State’s boys team took second at the St. Thomas Aquinas quadrangular, while the girls team finished third. For the boys, A.J. Baker placed fifth with a 622 series score. John Hamer and Bayn Schrader both recorded a 586 to finish sixth and seventh, respectively. On the girls side, Raegan Finkeldei took second with a 486, while Sydney Jordan claimed third with a 444.

Lawrence and FSHS will square off at 4 p.m. Thursday.

LHS results at Washburn quadrangular

Varsity boys: TW 2673, WR 2546, Sea 2544, LHS 2137

Lorenzo Dan: 211-183-195=589

Jayden Cress: 173-226-174=573

Sebastian Daniel: 169-167-182=518

Rhett May: 145-156-152=453

Josh King: 149-132-134=415

Joey Thurman: 106-106-112=324

Varsity Girls: Sea 2467, WR 2274, TW 2152, LHS 1949

Emile Rodman: 171-158-160=489

Lana Chieu: 200-135-150=485

Jojo Blackwood: 138-175-162=475

Alexis Foster: 155-156-147=458

Ashley Dykes: 123-166-158=447

Karla Tyler: 136-154-140=430

LHS results at Sunflower league

Varsity girls, sixth

Emilie Rodman: 187-152-225=564

Ashley Dykes: 189-171-134=494

Jojo Blackwood: 170-144-178=492

Lana Chieu: 169-137-169=475

Alexis Foster: 189-171-134=449

Skyler Scrivner: 165-147-4111=413

Varsity boys, seventh place

Jayden Cress: 193-198-210=601

Andrew Flynn: 187-182-219=588

Lorenzo Dan: 208-178-172=558

Sebastian Daniel: 136-223-150=509

Joey Thurman: 190-142-161=493

Josh King: 145-139-129=413