The Great Bend High School girls’ swim team took first place at the home meet on Monday at the Kirkman Activity Center pool.
The Lady Panthers finished with 509 points, while Hutchinson finished in second place with 443.
Western Athletic Conference opponents Dodge City and Liberal finished in third and fourth places, respectively.
Even with the win, GBHS head coach Stephanie Maier said that she still saw a lot of room for improvements.
“Overall, I thought we compared pretty well to Thursday,” Maier said. “I saw a lot of little mistakes that we’re going to have to work on. We had some (disqualifications) just not getting our turns and our starts the way we want.
“We had a few time improvements, but pretty much I just see what we saw on Thursday.”
Great Bend had three disqualifications due to illegal turns or false starts. It is something Maier said that she has been working on with her young team.
“I’ve seen more DQs this season than I have the last two seasons combined,” Maier said. “We’re just going to have to work on timing and how fast we want to get off the blocks.”
Hannah Hildebrand finished in first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:10.52.
Hildebrand usually competes in the 100 butterfly, but Maier mixed up the line up a little, letting the sophomore try her hand at the 200 individual medley.
Hildebrand finished in second place with a time of 2:34.05.
Freshman Madeline Vesta took Hildebrand’s place in the fly, finishing at 1:17.17 for first place.
“We wanted to put (Hildebrand) in the 200 I.M.,” Maier said. “We lost Jessica Kuhlman from last year for that, so I’m just trying to mix some other girls up. Allison (Damm) and Hannah both are going to be swimming that every few meets.
“(Vesta) did really good, and she pushes herself very hard. She’s a great freshman to have on the team.”
The Lady Panthers took first and second places in the 500 freestyle. Damm took the top time with 6:37.04, while Brenna Haines finished in second place, touching in at 6:46.59.
“We’re solid in our 500, and pretty good in the 200 if I can get Allison in there,” Maier said. “That’s what I always see against some of these other WAC teams is they just can’t get the distance like we can.
“However, we’re very short on sprinters, so I have to really tell the girls that they have to fight for the places just to get the points in the sprints.”
Great Bend competes next at 4 p.m. in Garden City on Tuesday, April 10.

HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING

At Great Bend
Kirkman Activity Center

GIRLS

Monday

Team scores
1. Great Bend, 509; 2. Hutchinson, 443; 3. Dodge City, 413; 4. Liberal, 306; 5. Thomas More Prep-Marian, 143
GBHS results
200 medley relay
2. GBHS “B” relay (Katlin Fuel, Brenna Haines, Madeline Vesta, Sylvia Ofoma), 2:14.32; 7. GBHS “C” relay (Tasha Davis, Rachel Bussen, Karah Stewart, Anna Frizell), 2:49.80 
200 freestyle
2. Brenna Haines, 2:27.47; 5. Madeline Vesta, 2:44.20; 6. Malia Disque, 2:59.97; Rachel Bussen, 3:19.49
200 individual medley
2. Hannah Hildebrand, 2:34.05; 4. Allison Damm, 2:42.71; 5. Kylee Spray, 2:51.66
50 freestyle
5. Michaela Cape, 29.37; 6. Sylvia Ofoma, 29.93; 14. Brianna Schartz, 33.57; Karah Stewart, 37.40; Estella Schumacher, 37.71; Anna Frizell, 37.86; Jenna Hertel, 38.68; Jillian Martin, 38.84; Amber Basden, 39.22; Mari Erb, 42.22
100 fly
1. Madeline Vesta, 1:17.17; 4. Katlin Fuel, 1:26.20; 7. Malia Disque, 1:31.98
100 freestyle
6. Kylee Spray, 1:09.29; 7. Sylvia Ofoma, 1:09.90; 13. Jessica Freund, 1:16.28; Karah Stewart, 1:24.14; Estella Schumacher, 1:26.90; Jenna Hertel, 1:27.12; Amber Basden, 1:31.87; Mari Erb, 1:38.77
500 freestyle
1. Allison Damm, 6:37.04; 2. Brenna Haines, 6:46.59; 6. Tasha Davis, 7:48.36
200 freestyle relay
2. GBHS “A” relay (Hannah Hildebrand, Madeline Vesta, Kylee Spray, Allison Damm), 1:58.38; 7. GBHS “B” relay (Brianna Schartz, Estella Schumacher, Jessica Freund, Sylvia Ofoma), 2:16.51; 9. GBHS “C” relay (Anna Frizzell, Karah Stewart, Jenne Hertel, Malia Disque), 2:31.78; GBHS “D” relay (Jillian Martin, Mari Erb, Amber Basden, Rachel Bussen), 2:39.32
100 backstroke
1. Hannah Hildebrand, 1:10.52; 4. Michaela Cape, 1:14.43; 7. Tasha Davis, 1:26.60; Anna Frizell, 1:42.23
100 breaststroke
3. Brianna Schartz, 1:26.10; 7. Jessica Freund, 1:34.59; 9. Katlin Fuel, 1:34.99; Rachel Bussen, 1:53.43 
400 freestyle relay
2. GBHS “A” relay (Brenna Haines, Michaela Cape, Katlin Fuel, Allison Damm), 4:34.99; 6. GBHS “B” relay (Tasha Davis, Estella Schumacher, Jessica Freund, Malia Disque), 5:23.07