Kade Cook led the Great Bend High School boys’ swimming team with two first-place finishes at the home meet on Tuesday.
Cook touched in at two minutes, 17.87 seconds in the 200-yard individual medley and 1:00.27 in the 100 butterfly.
“He swam really well,” GBHS head coach Steve Beaumont said of Cook. “His 200 I.M. today was really good. He just really got after it. His butterfly looked really good. I think it is coming back. He swam a good opening leg of the 400 relay, so he just had an outstanding match.”
Beaumont said that he was happy to send the Great Bend seniors away with a home win.
“I just pleased for the seniors and sending them out on a positive note,” Beaumont said. “That was our main goal for this meet, to swim well and help them finish their season with a home win.
“We knew McPherson was going to have some fast kids. We knew Hays was going to be tough. Every time we’ve swam with them this season it’s been pretty close. I think that fired the guys up.”
The Panthers have six seniors — Cook, Kyle Bussen, Dylan Dreiling, Nick Elliott, Alex Freund and Kaitlyn Fuel, the team’s manager.
Michael Haines, competing in his second meet after returning from an injury, finished in first place in the 100 breaststroke, clocking in at 1:08.82.
“Michael Haines qualified in the breaststroke,” Beaumont said. “That was, wow. We weren’t sure quite where that came from. I don’t think he quite expected that. I sure didn’t expect that being that he hasn’t been in the water much the last week and a half.
“He swam an excellent race. That was his personal best ever. Hopefully we can get him qualified in another event.”
Ky Heeke finished in first place in the 500 freestyle, topping Blake Mathews of Hays by .27 seconds with a time of 5:43.32.
“That was a heck of a race,” Beaumont said. “It came down to the last stroke between (Heeke) and the kid from Hays (Blake Mathews). He swam very well. I was really proud of how he competed. You know, you don’t expect a race to be that close after 500 yards, but it was very close.”
The Panthers travel to Wichita Northwest on Saturday at 9 a.m.

HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING

At Great Bend
Kirkman Activity Center

BOYS

Tuesday

Team standings
1. Great Bend, 397; 2. McPherson, 340; 3. Hays, 338; 4. Junction City, 286.5; 5. Campus, 278.5
Great Bend results
200-yard medley relay
2. GBHS “A” relay (Justin Kuhlman, Michael Haines, Ky Heeke, Dylan Dreiling), 1:52.25; 4. GBHS “B” relay (Nick Moyers, Kyle Bussen, Jake Kohman, Tristan Yount), 2:07.35
200 freestyle
2. Justin Kuhlman, 2:01.22; 4. Michael Haines, 2:03.69; 6. Kyle Bussen, 2:16.09; Cory Merten, 2:19.07
200 individual medley
1. Kade Cook, 2:17.87; 4. Nick Moyers, 2:37.57; 6. Nathan Brungardt, 2:42.85
50 freestyle
5. Ky Heeke, 24.55; 6. Dylan Dreiling, 25.51; 13. Nick Porter, 31.94; Austin Levingston, 30.21; JB Slater, 38.11; Chris Falck, 39.25
100 fly
1. Kade Cook, 1:00.27; 12. Jake Kohman, 1:24.26
100 freestyle
3. Dylan Dreiling, 56.51; 8. Kyle Bussen, 1:00.17; 14. Tristan Yount, 1:06.29; David Webster, 1:09.16; Alex Freund, 1:15.37; JB Slater, 1:27.00
500 freestyle
1. Ky Heeke, 5:43.32; 4. Cory Merten, 6:33.99; 7. Nathan Brungardt, 6:50.05
200 freestyle relay
2. GBHS “A” relay (Justin Kuhlman, Dylan Dreiling, Michael Haines, Kade Cook), 1:40.56; 11. GBHS “B” relay (Tristan Yount, Austin Levingston, Nick Porter, Cory Merten), 1:59.56; GBHS “C” relay (Alex Bratic, JB Slater, Chris Falck, Alex Freund), 2:23.84
100 backstroke
2. Justin Kuhlman, 1:01.95; 4. Nick Moyers, 1:08.30; 7. Tristan Yount, 1:14.25
100 breaststroke
1. Michael Haines, 1:08.82; 9. Alex Bratic, 1:36.42; 11. Austin Levingston, 1:39.15; David Webster, 1:43.95
400 freestyle relay
3. GBHS “A” relay (Kade Cook, Nick Moyers, Kyle Bussen, Ky Heeke), 3:44.92; 9. GBHS “B” relay (Jake Kohman, Nathan Brungardt, Nick Porter, Cory Merten), 4:39.92; GBHS “C” relay (Alex Freund, Chris Falck, JB Slater, Alex Bratic), 5:49.34