NEWTON — The Great Bend High School girls’ swim team took second place at the Newton Invitational on Thursday evening.
The Lady Panthers finished with 359 points, trailing first-place Newton, which recorded 400.
“This was the meet we were needing going into our (Western Athletic Conference) meet next week,” GBHS head coach Steve Beaumont said. “We needed to have a meet where we had some good times and some good time drops, and I really felt that happened today.”
Allison Damm had a pair of first-place finishes, winning the 200-yard freestyle (2:16.16) and the 500 freestyle (6:07.79).
Hannah Hildebrand also won a couple events, claiming first-place times in the 100 backstroke (1:06.22) and the 100 butterfly (1:02.87).
“Both of them swam season-best times in one of their individual events, Hildebrand in the butterfly and Allison in the 500 freestyle,” Beaumont said. “I think that’s just what we need at this point in the season.”
Great Bend hosts the WAC meet on Thursday, starting at 4 p.m., when it will attempt to win a conference title for the 11th straight season.
“I’m really proud of our girls,” Beaumont said. “They picked it up today, and really swam well. That really sets us up for next week. We know we still have some work to do. We’ve been second place to Garden City the last two times we’ve seen them, but we know it’s going to be close.”

                                                    — Kevin Price


HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING

GIRLS

At Newton

Thursday

Team scores
1. Newton, 400; 2. Great Bend, 359; 3. Hutchinson, 244; 4. Maize South, 135; 5. Maize, 69

Great Bend results
200-yard medley relay — 2. GBHS “A” relay (Michaela Cape, Brianna Schartz, Hannah Hildebrand, Sylvia Ofoma), 2:08.00; 5. GBHS “B” relay (Katy Jerke, Brenna Haines, Kalyn Blessing, Sarah Mauler), 2:21.99; 8. GBHS “C” relay (Anna Frizell, Taylor Huslig, Jessica Freund, Rachel Bussen), 2:29.25; GBHS “D” relay (Heather Schneider, Georgia Zimmerman, Karah Stewart, Estella Schumacher), 2:43.38
200 freestyle — 1. Allison Damm, 2:16.16; 5. Haines, 2:23.47; 6. Kylee Spray, 2:25.12
200 individual medley — 7. Maddie Vesta, 2:47.32; 8. Kalyn Blessing, 2:54.58; 10. Bussen, 3:28.52
50 freestyle — 3. Cape, 28.46; 4. Jerke, 29.95; 5. Ofoma, 30.38; Schartz, 30.93; Morgan Harwood, 32.48; Frizell, 33.49; Jordan Otten, 33.80; Carly Boyd, 34.51; Zimmerman, 35.05; Schumacher, 35.10; Stewart, 36.49; Schneider, 36.84; Maddie Unruh, 39.09; Magdiel Rodriguez, 39.80; Michala Bieker, 40.59
100 butterfly — 1. Hildebrand, 1:02.87; 5. Vesta, 1:09.91; 8. Freund, 1:28.38
100 freestyle — 5. Spray, 1:04.48; 6. Cape, 1:05.92; 8. Mauler, 1:12.25; Otten, 1:16.45; Amber Basden, 1:17.49; Schumacher, 1:20.99; Schneider, 1:26.30; Huslig, 1:28.14; Bieker, 1:29.48; Unruh, 1:31.64; Rodriguez, 1:32.39
500 freestyle — 1. Damm, 6:07.79; 7. Frizell, 7:32.05; 8. Stewart, 7:59.12
200 freestyle relay — 2. GBHS “A” relay (Cape, Spray, Vesta, Damm), 1:57.41; 5. GBHS “B” relay (Schartz, Basden, Bussen, Blessing), 2:08.39; 6. GBHS “C” relay (Harwood, Otten, Boyd, Freund), 2:14.83; GBHS “D” relay (Rodriguez, Bieker, Huslig, Unruh), 2:41.50
100 backstroke — 1. Hildebrand, 1:06.22; 7. Jerke, 1:16.63; 9. Ofoma, 1:29.70
100 breaststroke — 3. Schartz, 1:23.10; 4. Haines, 1:24.25; 7. Freund, 1:33.37
400 freestyle — 3. GBHS “A” relay (Damm, Spray, Vesta, Hildebrand), 4:19.04; 5. GBHS “B” relay (Blessing, Mauler, Jerke, Haines), 4:41.06; 8. GBHS “C” relay (Otten, Frizell, Basden, Bussen), 5:15.44; GBHS “D” relay (Harwood, Zimmerman, Stewart, Boyd), 5:21.60