Bison set new record while conquering Kearney big test

EARNEY, Neb. — The McCook High School swimmers and divers opened up the second half of their season with a meet at Kearney High School on Friday and Saturday, featuring some of the toughest competition of the year so far.

The Bison wrapped up the meet with a new school record, another relay posting qualifying times for the state meet and several swimmers earning personal best times.

And the McCook boys placed third out of nine teams, beating Kearney and Grand Island, something McCook coach Jon Graff said he doesn’t ever remember them doing in recent memory.

The divers took to the pool Friday afternoon with their first 11-dive meet of the season. Previously, the divers need only complete six dives at the competition, so there are always a lot of nerves to work through, coach Graff said.

This was especially true on the boys side with all three McCook divers performing 11 dives for their time in their careers.

Freshman Axel Blomstedt led the Bison with a fourth-place finish, failing to perform only one of the 11 dives. Sophomore Eli Graff placed sixth, managing to complete all of his times to the judges’ satisfaction.

On the girls’ side, the McCook divers have a lot more experience under their belts with both girls hoping to make a second appearance at the state championship in February.

Emma Graff was the top Bison diver with a fourth-place finish at 270 points, while fellow senior Maryann Kassner earned sixth after struggling with her twisting dives, coach Graff said.

Divers need at least 300 points to earn a trip to the state meet in Lincoln.

The Bison returned to Kearney on Saturday for the swimming events and finished the day with a new school record in the 100 yard butterfly.

McCook junior Blake Rodewald won the 100 fly with a time of 55.04, narrowly eclipsing the time set by Billy Howard during the 1990-91 season of 55.08.

This is a secondary qualifying time for Rodewald, inching him closer to swimming the event at the state meet.

Meeting the automatic time at any regular season swim meet guarantees a spot at the state championship meet, while secondary times are used to fill the top 32 spots if not filled by automatic times.

He also earned third in the 200 yard individual medley, dropping nearly a second off his personal best with a time of 2:11.87.

Other top finishers, who continue to chip away at their personal best times are Kevin Bantam, fourth, 200 yard freestyle, 1:56.24, and second, 100 yard breaststroke, 1:06.18; and Derick Spencer, 50 yard freestyle, 10th, 24.11.

And the boys relay team of Bantam, Rodewald along with Derick and Aaron Spencer are closing in on the school record in the 400 yard freestyle. They earned third at the Kearney Meet with a time 3:36.89.

For the girls, Emma Graff dropped more time in her signature event, the 100 yard breaststroke, and placed fourth with a time of 1:15.31.

The McCook girls 200 yard free relay team earned seventh place but posted a secondary qualifying time of 1:50.28. The team includes

Emma Graff, Maryann Kassner, Abby Renner and Braelyn Dunworth. The girls already have a secondary time in the 200 yard medley relay, earned at an earlier meet.

Coach Graff noted that several other swimmers are edging closer to qualifying for the state meet, noting that Tate Moser continues to cut time off his 500 yard freestyle, dropping another three seconds from his PR with at time of 5:45 for sixth place.

Next up for the Bison swimmers and divers is one of their favorite meets of the year, the Cotter Invite at Lincoln High School on Jan. 17 and 18m an.

Every swimmer who wins their heat earns a banana, which is taped to the wall.

Every team is vying to have the most bananas by the end of the day, so swimmers will try new events to gain a piece of fruit for their team.