GARDEN CITY — Great Bend Panther Matt Huslig earned Co-WAC Swimmer of the Year honors for Western Athletic Conference runner-up Great Bend.
Huslig shared WAC honors with Liberal’s double winner Jacob Sautter (50 free, 100 free).
Huslig broke WAC meet records while winning the 200 freestyle (1:52.93) and 500 freestyle (5:20.13). Huslig posted the third fastest 200-yard time in school history and the fourth-fastest 500-yard time in school history
“Matt had a fantastic meet,” said Great Bend coach Steve Beaumont. “He was very deserving of the Swimmer of the Year award. He’s had a great season.”
Great Bend’s first-place 400 freestyle relay (3:39.46) broke the WAC record with Daniel Abbott, Allen To, Brady Daniel and Matt Huslig competing. The time bettered the 5A qualifying standard.
Other new automatic 5A state qualifiers were first-place champion Brady Daniel, 100 butterfly (1:00.33); and the runner-up 200-freestyle relay (1:39.01) composed of Daniel Abbott, Joel Mellenthin, Brady Daniel and Matt Huslig.
“Brady Daniel had the most exciting race of the day in the 100 fly,” Beaumont said. “At the last turn, he was in third place behind Garden City and Dodge City swimmers. He made a late push to out-touch the top seed in the event to win and qualify for 5A state.”
Garden City benefited from home pool advantage to edge the Panthers 397-374 for the WAC swimming championship.
“We had some amazing swims today, set a few WAC records, and qualified in a few more events for the state meet next week,” Beaumont said. “I’m proud of these kids for the way they competed. We’ve grown a lot as a team.
Beaumont credited Garden City with competing as a high level to edge the Panthers.
“We knew going in that it was going to be a close meet — and it was,” Beaumont said. “As well as we swam, Garden City was just a little better today. Obviously, the venue being moved to their pool made our task even tougher.”
Panthers runner-up finishes were earned by Tyler Stein, 100 backstroke (1:02.99); Joe; Mellenthin, 200 IM (2:22.25); and the previously mentioned 200 free relay.
Third-place finishes were posted by Daniel Abbott, 50 freestyle (24.77); 100 freestyle (55.82); and the 200 medley relay ( 1:55.34) composed of Tyler Stein, Joel Mellenthin, Allen To and Prado.
The Buffaloes earned first-place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay, 200 individual medley, 200 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke and the 100 breaststroke.
The WAC championship, which was originally scheduled at Hays, was moved to the Garden City YMCA, due to inclement weather.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
AT GARDEN CITY
TEAM SCORES—1—Garden City 397; 2–Great Bend 374; 3—Dodge City 261; 4—Hays High 121; 5—Liberal 115
50 freestyle—1—Sautter, L, 24.25; 3—Abbott, 24.77; 10—Brody Feist, 26.74; 11—Prado, 27.04; Linenberger, 28.92; Alan Reyes, 30.86; Ruiz, 432.35; Garcia, 32.82; Bennett, 41.25; Carlos Reyes, 44.57
100 backstroke—1—Cupp, GC, 1:01.71; 2—Stein, 1:02.99; 4—Daniel, 1:04.07; 6—Webb, 1:10.17
100 freestyle—1—Sautter, L, 54.66; 3—Abbott, 55.82; 9—Prado, 1:00.40; 10—Brody Feist, 1:00.99
100 breaststroke—1—Schafer, GC, 1:09.434; 2—Mellenthin, 1:13.05; 4—Kennedy, 1:16.45; 7—Jacobo, 1:25.07
100 butterfly—1—Daniel, GB, 1:00.33; 4—Kaiser, 1:05.99; 7—Webb, 1:08.14
200 freestyle—1—Huslig, GB, 1:52.93 (SQ); 4—Allen To, 2:07.82; 7—Stein, 2:18.29
200 IM—1—Cupp, GC, 2:14.11; 2—Mellenthin, 2:22.25; 4—Kennedy, 2:31.72; 6—Kaiser, 2:39.22
500 freestyle—1—Huslig, GB, 5:20.13; 5—Allen To, 6:05.52; 7—Linenberger, 6:15.53
200 free relay—1—Garden City, 1:37.15; 2—GB A, 1:39.01 (Abbott, Mellenthin, Daniel, Huslig); 6—GB B, 1:47.47 (Stein, Kennedy, Jacobo, Brody Feist); 11—GB C, 2:06.61 (Berbil, Kyler Feist, DeLong, Jose Reyes); GB D, 2:32.14 (Garcia, Bennett, Carlos Reyes, Alan Reyes)
200 medley relay—1—Garden City, 1:49.39 (SQ); 3—GB A, 1:55.34 (Stein, Mellenthin, Allen To, Prado); 5—GB B, 2:05.17 (Webb, Kennedy, Kaiser, Jacobo)
400 free relay—1—GB A, 3:39.46 (Abbott, Allen To, Daniel, Huslig); 5_GB B, 4:04.58 (Brody Feist, Kaiser, Linenberger, Prado); 10—GB C, 4:57.51 (Kyler Feist, DeLong, Garcia, Jose Reyes)
