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Wow! McCook swim makes history, first state medal since '84
LINCOLN, Neb. — It has been nearly 40 years since a McCook swimmer returned home from the Nebraska State Championship meet with a medal.
But senior Leah Spencer ended her high school career Saturday by bringing home hardware from the state meet, finishing 8th in the girls 50 yard freestyle at the Devaney Center in Lincoln.
Leah posted a time of 24.87 seconds to earn 8th place in the championship finals Saturday.
Pam Ely was the last Bison to medal at the state meet placing 6th in the 100 yard backstroke in 1984.
She also finished 5th in the 100 yard butterfly and 6th in the 100 yard backstroke in 1983.
Earning a medal at the state meet was a goal.
Leah set at the beginning of the season, having qualified for the championships all four years but never placing in the top 8 for a medal.
Leah also swam Saturday in the girls 100 yard freestyle consolation final, placing 13th with a time of 54.64.
The McCook girls 200 yard free relay team of Leah, Izzy Renner, Emma Graff and Abby Renner also set a new bar for the Bison by reaching the second day of the state meet for the first time in school history by placing in the top 16 in Friday’s qualifying round.
While McCook regularly qualifies relay teams for the champs, the Bison had never had a relay team reach the second day, where the top 1-8-place finishers from day one race in the championship final and 9-16 fight it out in the consolation final.
The girls relay team swam a 1:44.43 to earn 15th overall.
The Nebraska State Swim and Dive program is unique in that there are no class divisions among the schools across the state; no A, B, C or D classes.
Qualifying for the state championship is solely based on time for swimming and points for diving, achieved throughout the season.
Every school with a pool or swim program swims against each other, regardless of the size of the school and the number of students.
This means McCook is one of the smallest - if not the smallest - schools with a swim program, competing against the power-house schools on the east end of the state.
Swimmers qualify for the state meet based on times set by the Nebraska State Athletic Association before the season starts with the top 32 times making the championships.
McCook’s state championship history include medals on the diving board.
Jessica Hall placed sixth in diving in 2005, while her brother Matt Hall placed three years in a row from 2006 to 2008.
The only other McCook swimmers to return home with state medals goes back to when McCook’s swim program began in the mid-1970s.
In 1975, Kris Flaska not only medaled but won the 100 Breast and placed 5th in the 200 Individual Medley.
In 1982, Todd Walters placed fifth in the 100 freestyle.
McCook coach Jon Graff commended his state-qualifying swimmers.
“It was a great meet for us,” Graff said. “We went in wanting to set some records and we accomplished our goals.”
He added, “We’re very proud of the girls’ performances. They stepped up and swam their best times of the year, right when we needed them to and on perhaps the biggest stage of the year.”
The 2022-23 swim season also saw several records fall on the McCook High School record board.
With several records already to her name, Leah also took down the 200 yard freestyle record and the 200 individual medley record.
And the girls’ 200 yard medley relay and 200 yard free relay records fell, with the team of Senior Leah Spencer, Junior Izzy Renner, Sophomore Emma Graff and Freshman Abby Renner.
While the high school season has come to an end, many of these swimmers will compete for a few more weeks as part of the YMCA swim team.
The McCook YMCA youth swim season wraps up in Fremont on March 10-11 with the YMCA state championships.
And these same swimmers have also qualified for the YMCA regional meet in Des Moines on March 17-18, facing competitors from seven midwest states, all trying to qualify for the national meet in Greensboro, N.C. in April.
Watch for details about that meet.