photo by: Chris Duderstadt

Lawrence High swimmer Kendra Yergey, middle, smiles while LHS coach Kent McDonald says a few words about her during a senior night ceremony at the Lawrence Invitational on Tuesday. Yergey was recognized along with Shikeyah Brunello, right, and Chisato Kimura, who was not able to attend the meet because of a college visit. The Lions won their home meet.

Few people have been able to witness the recent growth of the Lawrence High girls swim and dive team quite like senior Kendra Yergey.

Yergey sang the national anthem on her senior night to figuratively and literally set the tone for LHS in its first-place finish at the Lawrence Invitational on Tuesday.

“I’ve been meaning to do it for years now and I finally got the courage to do it and it turned out good, so I was really excited,” Yergey said of singing the national anthem.

Yergey has seen that same courage from her teammates this season, as the Lions have been finishing higher in the team standings at each of their meets than they have in years past. Lawrence posted a team score of 413 to win its home meet. Free State followed in second with 399 points.

“I’m so glad to see the younger girls able to beat the older girls on other teams,” Yergey, who was recognized along with Shikeyah Brunello and Chisato Kimura in a senior night ceremony, said. “It’s really cool. They really bump up our program.”

Emily Guo led the way again for the Lions after winning the 200-yard IM and 100-yard butterfly with respective times of 2:15.90 and 1:00.24. Guo also helped the Lions sweep the relays.

Maddie Dean, Marian Frick, Guo and Madi Heckman got things started for LHS with a first-place time of 1:55.14 in the 200-yard medley relay. Frick, Jamie Abernathy, Guo and Heckman won the 200-yard freestyle relay after clocking in at 1:44.13. Morgan Jones, Aubrey Fischer, Dean and Heckman closed out the meet with a winning time of 3:47.36 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Jones (500-yard freestyle, time of 5:19.88) and Frick (100-yard breaststroke, 1:10.82) won their respective individual events, and Eden Kingery rounded out the first-place finishers for the Lions with a score of 213.35 in the 1-meter dive.

While Yergey is excited to see what is in store for her teammates going forward, the Lawrence High senior is hopeful that she’ll be competing at the state meet rather than watching. Yergey’s best performance on Tuesday was a 15th-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.

“I’m working on the 100 breast right now, so we’re going to see how that goes at league,” Yergey said. “I’m really excited.”

Yergey will continue her studies at Johnson County Community College before going to Colorado Mesa University. Kimura — who was unable to attend Tuesday’s meet because of a college visit — plans to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Brunello will remain in Lawrence to attend Haskell Indian Nations University.

Campbell fuels Free State to 2nd

After winning the 200-and 500-yard freestyles last week at the Free State Invite, FSHS senior Claire Campbell switched up her race schedule a little bit on Tuesday, but still came away with two individual golds.

Campbell won the 200 free again with a time of 1:55.89 before testing out her speed in the 50-yard freestyle. The Kansas signee clocked in with a winning time of 24.97 to win the event by more than a second.

Fellow senior Ava Cormaney also continued her winning ways in the 100-yard freestyle. Cormaney coasted to first place with a time of 56.51.

“I think sprinting in practice, practicing the starts and the turns and staying strong on top of the sprints is really what’s helping,” Cormaney said.

The 100 free has been one of Cormaney’s secondary events, but it’s been her best of late. While Cormaney has been pleased with her progress in the 100 free, she was frustrated with her third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Cormaney said that a faster tempo is the main thing she’ll be working on in practice in the 100 breast.

“That’s not doing so well right now, but I’m hoping by league and state that I’ll be more prepared for that and feel stronger,” Cormaney said.

Ainsley Krug collected the other first-place finish for the Firebirds after posting a time of 1:02.47 in the 100-yard backstroke.

Free State and Lawrence High will both be back in action at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center.

Lawrence Invitational

Tuesday at Lawrence High

Team scores — 1. Lawrence High 413, 2. Free State 399, 3. Washburn Rural 167, 4. Mill Valley 144, 5. Shawnee Heights 116, 6. Leavenworth 84, 7. Topeka West 72.

Top-10 finishers

Lawrence High results

200 medley relay — 1. Maddie Dean, Marian Frick, Emily Guo, Madi Heckman, 1:55.14; 6. Iris Sherron, Jillian Wilson, Aubrey Fischer, Megan Drumm, 2:08.45; 10. Lillian Wilson-Lewis, Kendra Yergey, Beth Brandt, Lillian Derby, 2:23.02; 16. Ella Williams, Emma Parsons, Lisa Yang, Emily Esparza, 2:34.35.

200 freestyle — 2. Morgan Jones, 2:02.11; 6. Iris Sherron, 2:15.34; 7. Jillian Wilson, 2:19.49; 11. Haven Bellerive, 2:28.55.

200 IM — 1. Emily Guo, 2:15.9; 4. Megan Drumm, 2:29.64; 15. Lisa Yang, 2:51.95.

50 freestyle — 2. Marian Frick, 26.12; 3. Madi Heckman, 26.29; 5. Brooke Wroten, 27.25; 8. Jamie Abernathy, 28.09; 12. Lillian Wilson-Lewis, 29.89; T-15. Beth Brandt, 30.76; 33. Kendra Yergey, 33.35; 34. Emily Esparza, 33.59; 35. Molly Daugherty, 33.65; 38. Ella Williams, 33.77; 43. Sidney Hawley, 33.92; 55. Josie Abernathy, 35.11; 61. Emily Johnson, 35.87; 62. Emily Gordon-Ross, 35.96; 67. Emma Frances-Smith, 36.20; 68. Katie Ahern, 36.31; 73. Mya Gilbert, 36.63; 76. Emily Kruse, 36.98; 77. Laura Teska, 37.08; 83. Madison Kuhle, 37.77; 86. Grace Farney, 38.67; 87. Emma Parsons, 39.20; 94. Shikeyah Brunello, 41.70; 99. Mara Manolescu, 43.46; 103. Anna Nellis, 45.34; 105. Joohye Oh, 47.90.

1-meter dive — 1. Eden Kingery, 213.35; 11. Juleah Williams, 126.60.

100-butterfly — 1. Emily Guo, 1:00.24; 3. Aubrey Fischer, 1:04.33; 12. Lisa Yang, 1:22.25.

100-yard freestyle — 2. Maddie Dean, 58.23; 5. Jamie Abernathy, 1:00.06; 6. Brooke Wroten, 1:00.15; 17. Lillian Derby, 1:09.64.

500-yard freestyle — 1. Morgan Jones, 5:19.88; 5. Jillian Wilson, 6:04.15; 11. Haven Bellerive, 7:05.15; 19. Emily Johnson, 8:13.29.

200-yard freestyle — 1. Marian Frick, Jamie Abernathy, Emily Guo, Madi Heckman, 1:44.13; 3. Megan Drumm, Brooke Wroten, Haven Bellerive, Morgan Jones, 1:52.08; 10. Kendra Yergey, Sidney Hawley, Lillian Derby, Lisa Yang, 2:08.65; 15. Ella Williams, Molly Daugherty, Emily Esparza, Emily Johnson, 2:18.10.

100-yard backstroke — 2. Aubrey Fischer, 1:03.72; 3. Maddie Dean, 1:03.80; 5. Iris Sherron, 1:08.23; 16. Lillian Wilson-Lewis, 1:21.86.

100-yard breaststroke — 1. Marian Frick, 1:10.82; 15. Kendra Yergey, 1:33.9.

400-yard freestyle relay — 1. Morgan Jones, Aubrey Fischer, Maddie Dean, Madi Heckman, 3:47.36; 3. Jamie Abernathy, Iris Sherron, Brooke Wroten, Megan Drumm, 3:59.07; 6. Lillian Wilson-Lewis, Haven Bellerive, Lillian Derby, Jillian Wilson, 4:26.98; 16. Molly Daugherty, Ella Williams, Emily Esparza, Sidney Hawley, 5:09.58.

Free State results

200 medley relay — 2. Janet Stefanov, Payton Krug, Kasey Dunn, Ava Cormaney, 1:58.85; 4. Ainsley Krug, Lydia Zicker, Piper Rogers, Hailei Detwiler, 2:05.30; 9. Anna Welton, Rose Pilakowski, Emmaleigh Hancock, Margaret Uhler, 2:18.24; 12. Hailei Dahl, Maleena Hatfield, Lily Thompson, Teresa Wright, 2:24.41.

200 freestyle — 1. Claire Campbell, 1:55.89; 8. Haleigh Dahl, 2:23.85; 9. Naomi Soderling, 2:26.04; 17. Addeline Garcia, 2:46.71.

200 IM — 2. Payton Krug, 2:21.76; 3. Lydia Zicker, 2:25.58; 10. Nora Agah, 2:39.80; 13. Richa Joshi, 2:43.10.

50 freestyle — 1. Claire Campbell, 24.97; 10. Piper Rogers, 28.84; 11. Hailei Detwiler, 29.55; 14. Lily Thompson, 30.53; 18. Emmaleigh Hancock, 31.07; 20. Anastasia Bunting, 31.34; 21. Margaret Uhler, 31.69; 22. Maleena Hatfield, 32.02; 23. Anna Welton, 32.07; 30. Logan White, 33.14; 32. Teresa Wright, 33.42; 37. Hailey Gotto, 33.75; T-40. Maddie Clark, 33.88; 44. Nethni Weerasekara, 33.94; 46. Addeline Garcia, 34.28; 58. Ashlyn Merrill, 35.60; 64. Victoria Vazquez-Ortega, 36.08; 70. Sidney Patrick, 36.49; 75. Sarah Church, 36.75; 84. Emma Harris, 38.02; 101. Ayla Nguyen, 44.11.

1-meter dive — 3. Savanna Dey, 183.50; 4. Mikyla Williams, 180.50; 13. Monica Kimmel, 103.20.

100-butterfly — 2. Kasey Dunn, 1:02.47; 4. Piper Rogers, 1:07.27; 5. Nora Agah, 1:08.63; 11. Richa Joshi, 1:20.75.

100-yard freestyle — 1. Ava Cormaney, 56.51; 3. Janet Stefanov, 58.66; 16. Rose Pilakowski, 1:08.93; 23. Logan White, 1:15.04.

500-yard freestyle — 3. Kasey Dunn, 5:34.95; 4. Ainsley Krug, 5:40.38; 8. Haleigh Dahl, 6:19.74; 9. Naomi Soderling, 6:34.63.

200-yard freestyle — 2. Ava Cormaney, Lydia Zicker, Payton Krug, Claire Campbell, 1:45.64; 5. Nora Agah, Hailei Detwiler, Richa Joshi, Piper Rogers, 1:58.49; 9. Maleena Hatfield, Maddie Clark, Emmaleigh Hancock, Margaret Uhler, 2:06.79; 12. Anastasia Bunting, Hailey Gotto, Teresa Wright, Logan White, 2:12.79.

100-yard backstroke — 1. Ainsley Krug, 1:02.47; 4. Janet Stefanov, 1:04.97; 6. Hailei Detwiler, 1:08.29; 12. Anna Welton, 1:17.50.

100-yard breaststroke — 2. Payton Krug, 1:14.14; 3. Ava Cormaney, 1:14.27; 4. Lydia Zicker, 1:15.33; 9. Rose Pilakowski, 1:23.76.

400-yard freestyle relay — 2. Kasey Dunn, Janet Stefanov, Ainsley Krug, Claire Campbell, 3:49.19; 7. Nora Agah, Naomi Soderling, Haleigh Dahl, Richa Joshi, 4:26.98; 10. Emmaleigh Hancock, Margaret Uhler, Anna Welton, Rose Pilakowski, 4:45.16; 12. Nethni Weerasekara, Anastasia Bunting, Addeline Garcia, Maddie Clark, 5:00.98.