photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence's Morgan Moeckley, left, and Elizabeth Hite start the 50-yard freestyle in a swim meet at Lawrence High School on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

Lawrence and Free State’s girls swim and dive teams competed in the second meet of the season at Lawrence High School on Tuesday. The Free State girls won the meet, and Lawrence placed third.

Free State scored 351 points, 35 points more than the runner-up Lansing team. Lawrence finished with 210, beating Piper by four points.

“We are still figuring out what lineup we’re going to do, and for some of our faster girls, what events they’re going to do,” Lawrence coach Elle Weber said. “I think I have a little bit better of an idea after this meet than after (the) Emporia (meet).”

Only two girls competed in the diving event, one from Free State and Lawrence. Firebird Taylor Andrew led with a 159.05 final score, while Naomi Klopfenstein had 127.25 for her final score.

For relay teams, Free State won the 200-yard medley relay with a team of Jocelyn Wilson, Helena Mattes, Gayla Gao and Kendall Dobski finishing in 1 minute, 59.38 seconds. A second Free State team in the 200-yard medley finished third, with Ashlyn Johnson, Lillie Outcalt, Patty Cooper and Sophia Anderson finishing in 2:22.33. The Lions’ top team of Violet Meinershagen, Keira Wells, Isabella Paniagua and Alexa Nauholz finished in 2:31.42 for sixth.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Firebirds took second in 1:49.29 with Gao, Dobski, Mattes and Wilson as the team. A second Free State team finished fourth in 2:04.06 with Johnson, Maria Fuentes Sanchez, Dylan Tenbrink and Amelia Rockhold. The top Lawrence team came sixth at 2:06.40 with Ava Kohart, Nauholz, Sophia McLaughlin and Harper Jay.

The Lions took third in the 400-yard freestyle relay with Jay, Channing Saint Onge, Kohart and Ashlyn Tell finishing in 4:26.67. The Firebirds finished fourth in 4:33.48 with Tenbrink, Outcalt, Cooper and Aidyn Guy.

Tell is a junior but is in her first year swimming with Lawrence. So far, she’s impressed Weber.

Gao won the 100-yard freestyle in 1:01.58, with Cooper finishing third at 1:11.09. Kohart led a trio of Lions who placed sixth, seventh and eighth. Nauholz finished seventh and Bella Gragg took eighth.

Wilson won the 100-yard freestyle in 57.25 seconds. She was the only swimmer to finish the race in under a minute. Outcalt took sixth at 1:06.44, with Saint Onge placing eighth at 1:08.94 and Jay coming ninth at 1:09.19.

Mattes won the 500-yard freestyle at 5:43.03, while Tell finished third at 6:09.43. Tenbrink and Guy finished fourth and fifth at 6:17.82 and 6:19.33, respectively.

Guy finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:18.54, with Tenbrink taking third behind her at 2:19.46 and Rockhold placing fourth at 2:33.03. Saint Onge was fifth at 2:33.59, and McLaughlin finished eighth at 2:36.88.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Wilson finished third at 1:04.39, and Johnson placed fifth at 1:16.11

Cooper placed third in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:43.22, and Johnson came fifth at 2:56.21. Lawrence’s Anna Gordon-Ross finished ninth at 3:30.81.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Mattes was the runner-up with a 26.72-second time. Tell finished fourth at 27.77 seconds, and Dobski took seventh at 29.76 seconds.

The Lions will be at Summit Trail Middle School on Saturday for a meet, while the Firebirds will next compete in Topeka on April 9, at the Capital Federal Natatorium.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State’s Patty Cooper swims the 100-yard butterfly at Lawrence High School on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Anna Gordon-Ross dives into the pool to start the 200-yard individual medley at Lawrence High School on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.