photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Alexa Nauholz swims the 100-yard fly in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

Lenexa — Free State placed sixth, while Lawrence placed 12th after the final day of the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday.

The Firebirds scored 183 points, 34 points ahead of seventh-place Mill Valley and 33 points behind fifth-place Shawnee Mission Northwest. The Lions scored 69 points, 35 more than Shawnee Mission West and 9.5 points behind Shawnee Mission North. Shawnee Mission East won the league with 348 points.

“We had a great first day yesterday, and we kind of matched what we did yesterday,” Lawrence coach Elle Weber said. “I was very proud of the girls. I wasn’t totally expecting that, but they’ve been working hard.”

Free State coach Janna Skinner said everyone on the team had some sort of personal best in the meet, which is an encouraging sign since the group didn’t taper off its training during the week leading up to the meet. Despite a smaller team than usual, the Firebirds were effective with the number of swimmers they had.

“We had a lot of time drops,” Skinner said. “We’re going to have a strong team at state.”

Saturday’s finals meet started with the 200-yard medley relay, in which Free State finished as the runner-up with a 1 minute, 53.23-second time. Lawrence placed 11th in the event at 2:20.75.

The Firebirds were particularly focused on a good showing in the 200-yard medley relay. Senior Jocelyn Wilson said the team pushed each other hard with encouragement, which helped them drop 2.15 seconds off their preliminary race time.

The first individual event was the 200-yard freestyle. Free State senior Aidyn Guy swam it in 2:14.15, placing 14th in the race. Freshman Firebird Dylan Tenbrick placed right behind Guy for 15th at 2:17.54.

Free State sophomore Helena Mattes finished third in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:09.87. She finished 0.15 seconds behind the second-place time and swam two all-time personal bests in her two individual events. Lawrence junior Ashlyn Tell took 11th at 2:22.73, and fellow Lion Ava Kohart, a senior, placed 17th in 2:41.69. Junior Firebird Ashlyn Johnson swam it in 2:50.01, which was 18th in the event. Lawrence freshman Isabella Paniagua took 21st at 2:54.84.

Neither of the local teams had anyone participate in the 50-yard freestyle or diving finals. The 100-yard fly featured Free State senior Gayla Gao, who placed fourth in the event at 59.98 seconds. Lawrence senior Alexa Nauholz finished 20th at 1:31.95.

Wilson swam the 100-yard freestyle in 54.29 seconds, which was third in the event.

Tell took eighth in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:48.42 time. Guy took 11th in the event by swimming it in 6:01.40. Tenbrick placed 14th at 6:05.48, and Free State junior Amelia Rockhold finished 18th at 6:12.29. Rockhold improved her time by 13 seconds from the preliminary race to the final.

Lawrence finished 10th in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a 1:52.36 time. The event was a critical one for the Lions, and the team qualifying for state in the event on Friday was one of the biggest highlights of the weekend for the team. They dropped seven seconds off their time in Friday’s prelim race to qualify.

“We’ve been doing a lot of sprint work,” Weber said. “They knew they would probably (qualify) for the 400 free, but it was a good surprise to get it in the 200 free, too. Seven seconds in a 200 is quite a bit of time.”

Free State took 12th place in the relay at 1:55.09. The team said their relays went well overall, and everyone involved was focused and working hard. Gao said the team pushed itself and tried hard during the relays.

“I’m really proud of our team,” Wilson said. “We all really showed up and showed out.”

Wilson finished third in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:00.93, and Gao came in fifth at 1:02.47. Johnson made the third Firebird in the event, and she took 14th at 1:10.70, with Penelope All making the final Firebird with a 24th-place finish at 1:16.55. Lawrence junior Violet Meinershagen finished just ahead of All in 1:16.41.

Free State sophomore Helena Mattes was the runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:06.57, and Lawrence senior Ava Kohart placed 13th at 1:20.74.

The final event was the 400-yard freestyle relay, which Free State placed fifth in at 3:49.17. The Lions’ relay team took eighth at 4:10.65.

For the Lions, Weber will keep pushing her team, particularly in the sprints, to prepare for the state meet.

“We’ll probably go pretty hard this first week, and then we’ll pull back next week,” Weber said.

As for Free State, Skinner said the team still has a lot of little details to clean up. From relay exchanges to breakouts, the Firebirds can continue to improve and improve their time at the state meet.

These next two weeks will show how beneficial it is for the team to have as many veteran seniors as they do, as they understand how to properly take care of themselves in the taper period to maximize their potential.

“With all this extra energy they’re going to have as we back off our training — the guys often don’t know how to handle that energy, but the girls do know how to focus in,” Skinner said. “Those seniors are going to help us focus and manage our energy well, and it really is basically knowing yourself and how hard to push or how hard to take in that (extra) energy.

“It’s really an artwork, tapering,” Skinner said. “It’s really going to be about managing their sleep and nutrition.”

Continuing to build endurance will be a key for both teams as they have to prepare for back-to-back days of trying to swim their record times.

“Especially with a two-day meet, you really have to show up both days and do your best,” Mattes said.

Free State and Lawrence will have a last chance meet on Wednesday, May 14 at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center before starting the three-day state meet on Thursday, May 22 at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State senior Gayla Gao swims the 100-yard fly in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State freshman Dylan Tenbrick swims the 500-yard freestyle in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State senior Aidyn Guy swims the 500-yard freestyle in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence junior Ashlyn Tell swims the 500-yard freestyle in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Ava Kohart swims the first leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Channing Saint Onge swims the second leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State freshman Penelope All swims the 100-yard backstroke in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State senior Jocelyn Wilson swims the 100-yard backstroke in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Ava Kohart swims the 100-yard breaststroke in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence senior Harper Jay swims her portion of the 400-yard freestyle relay in the Sunflower League girls swim meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Lenexa.