One meet into the season, and this much is clear: Lawrence High’s boys swimming and diving team is going to be more competitive than they have been in the past.


The talent level is up a little with a strong trio of freshmen: Stephen Johnson, Isaac Springe and Alex Heckman. Add in returners Chase Odgers, Patrick Oblon, and Ellis Springe, among others, and the Lions have the power to compete with some of the top teams.


“We had three club kids that we’ve never had that fast come up this year,” Odgers said. “So now we have some good speed on the team that really helps us. … I think this year it’s feasible for us to actually get first in a couple meets, which would be nice. Since I’ve been on the squad that hasn’t happened, and I don’t know, it would just be nice to do a lot better at meets than we have in the past.”


The Lions opened the year by taking second place at the Free State quadrangular on Wednesday. The biggest thing was that they were matching (or close to) their speeds at the end of last season. Of course, they’ll shave time during the course of this year, but the fact that they started so fast will give them a lot of enthusiasm for practices and regular season meets.


“In practice, even though it’s only been a couple of weeks, everyone has kind of stepped up a little bit.” LHS coach Kent McDonald said. “Those three (freshmen) pushing the pace, other guys trying to stay with them, it’s really moved their workouts up another level.”


“The first meet was a lot of pressure because I came in, and people had high expectations,” Johnson added. “Everyone carried me through it. Really it’s the team. I just carried it out.”


I shot video of them during a practice on Monday, as they worked on starts and did laps. The video, which can be seen below, also includes divers from both LHS and Free State, as they worked together on their routines:


http://www2.ljworld.com/videos/2014/dec/04/36019/
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If you’ve missed any previous winter sports blog posts, including videos of their practices, you can find them below:


Lawrence High girls basketball: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/dividing_line/2014/nov/26/a-new-era-for-lawrence-high-girls-basket/


Free State boys swimming: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/dividing_line/2014/nov/27/free-state-boys-swimming/


Free State wrestling: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/dividing_line/2014/nov/28/plenty-of-youth-and-enthusiasm-for-free-/


Lawrence High boys basketball: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/dividing_line/2014/nov/30/big-expectations-and-talent-for-lawrence/


Free State girls basketball: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/dividing_line/2014/dec/1/free-state-girls-basketball-reloads-for-/


Free State boys basketball: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/dividing_line/2014/dec/2/new-faces-set-to-lead-free-state-boys-ba/
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As always, feel free to comment, email me, or find me on Twitter @nightengalejr.