Menu
Relay, divers lead Bison in home meet filled with victory
McCOOK, Neb. — In their second home meet in as many weeks, the McCook High School swim and dive team had another successful meet against familiar foes, North Platte and Scottsbluff on Thursday at the YMCA.
The Bison claimed more than half first place medals, posted several personal bests and edged closer to the times needed to qualify for the state meet in February.
McCook opened the final meet before the holiday break with a win in the women’s 200 medley relay.
The team of seniors Emma Graff and Maryann Kassner, junior Abby Renner and freshman Braelyn Dunworth finished in a time of 2:03.32, a secondary qualifying time needed for the state meet.
The McCook men’s relay team, senior Kevin Bantam, juniors Blake Rodewald and Tate Moser, and sophomore Derick Spencer, quickly followed up with a win of their own in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:48.57.
Both the men and women went on to claim first for the Bison in the 200 yard freestyle relay with the ladies winning in 1:51.07 and the guys claiming first in 1:36.43.
McCook coach Jon Graff said it was a fun meet with a lot of good improvement from his swimmers.
He added, “A few swimmers were out with sickness, so it was great to have some underclassmen step up and fill spots on the relays and help bring home top finishes.”
In addition to first-place finishes in the relays, individual winners included:
● Abby Renner in the 50 free with a time 26.02 and 100 butterfly in 1:05.45;
● Braelyn Dunworth in the 200 free in 2:14.87;
● Emma Graff in the 100 breaststroke in 1:16.55;
● Kevin Bantam in the 200 free in 1:56.55 and 100 breaststroke in 1:06.59;
● Blake Rodewald in the 200 individual medley in 2:12.55 and 100 butterfly in 56.10;
● Derick Spencer in the 100 yard freestyle in 53.41
● Tate Moser in the 500 yard freestyle in 5:48.34;
The meet opened with the final six-dive meet of the season.
McCook finished second in both the women’s and men’s events with Emma Graff earning 162.05 points and Axel Blomstedt finishing at 127.50.
When the divers return to competition after the first of the year, they will be required to perform 11 dives with the hopes of making at least 300 points to make the state dive meet.
The McCook swim team will take a few days off for the holiday moratorium before returning to practice after Christmas. The next meet is Jan. 10-11 in Kearney.