TOPEKA — Great Bend High School junior Justin Kuhlman matched his finish in the 100-meter backstroke from last season on Saturday night at the Class 5-1A state swim meet at Hummer Sports Complex.
Kuhlman finished fifth with a time of 57.37 seconds to lead the Panthers. He also finished 11th in the individual medley, touching in at 2:09.73.
“Place-wise, he finished where he did last year, but he swam really well,” GBHS head coach Steve Beaumont said. “He took seconds off his time, which is something almost everybody on our team did this weekend.”
The 400 freestyle relay, which consisted of Kuhlman, Nick Moyer, Cory Merten and Ky Heeke, finished 13th, and the same group finished 15th in the 200 freestyle relay.
“All of our relays swam well,” Beaumont said. “I think we took five seconds off our 400 freestyle time, and several seconds off our 200 as well.”
Heeke missed eighth place in the 200 freestyle by .09 with a time of 1:54.67. He finished 14th in the 100 butterfly, clocking in at 1:00.43.

                                                          — Kevin Price

HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING
Class 5-1A state swim meet

BOYS

Friday-Saturday

At Topeka
Hummer Sports Complex

Great Bend results
Final
200 freestyle — 10. Ky Heeke, 1:54.67
200 individual medley — 11. Justin Kuhlman, 2:09.73
100 butterfly — 14. Heeke, 1:00.43
200 freestyle relay — 15. GBHS (Kuhlman, Nick Moyers, Cory Merten, Heeke), 1:36.87
100 backstroke — 5. Kuhlman, 57.37
400 freestyle relay — 13. GBHS (Heeke, Moyers, Merten, Kuhlman), 3:34.78

Preliminary
200-meter medley relay — 31. GBHS (Tristan Yount, Merten, Josh Schridde, Keaton Elliott), 2:03.31
200 freestyle — 11. Heeke, 1:55.29
200 individual medley — 11. Kuhlman, 2:09.40
100 butterfly — 15. Heeke, 1:00.70
200 freestyle relay — 9. GBHS (Kuhlman, Moyers, Merten, Heeke), 1:36.16
100 backstroke — 7. Kuhlman, 59.52
400 freetyle relay — 11. GBHS (Heeke, Moyers, Merten, Kuhlman), 3:35.68