The Great Bend High School boys’ swimming team took first place at its swim meet held Tuesday at the Kirkman Athletic Center on the Barton Community College campus.
The Panthers competed against swimmers from McPherson, Hutchinson, Independent, Wichita Collegiate and Thomas More Prep-Marian.
GBHS scored 509 points, 173 points ahead of second-place Hutchinson.
“Overall, we were pretty solid today,” Panthers head coach Steve Beaumont said. “I haven’t counted them all up, but we had a pretty good amount of time improvements. Our young kids are really coming on. We are continuing to see times drop.”
Freshman standout Justin Kuhlman raked in two first-place finishes. In the 50-yard freestyle, he touched in at 24.33, just .01 ahead of junior Eric Mullins of Hutchinson.
“(Kuhlman) had a great meet,” Beaumont said. “He had a great race in the 50 free. I think it’s been good for him to train with some other guys. I think it pushes him every day. He is obviously a good swimmer and a good addition to the team.
“We still have a long time to go. We have a lot of conditioning left, so hopefully we’ll see those times continue to drop.”
Kuhlman dominated the backstroke, completing the 200 in 58.94, putting him a full 10 seconds ahead of the second-place team.
Beaumont said it was the first time he had seen Kuhlman finish the event under a minute.
Great Bend placed first in the 100 butterfly on the back of Kort Cook, who turned in a time of 1 minute, 1.79 seconds to beat Kyle Cottrell, a senior from McPherson, by less than a second.
“(Kort) was really happy with that,” Beaumont said, “and I would have to agree. That was right on his best time from last season and I already told him that it’s still early in the season and once we get into better shape, I think he has a great chance to break a minute on that.
“I think he was surprised and I was little surprised, too. I knew he was capable of it, but I just didn’t know it would happen this early in the season.”
The Panthers’ 200 freestyle relay, including Kort Cook, Ky Heeke, Dylan Dreiling and Ian Sheppard, tied for second place with Hutchinson, clocking 1:42.65.
The 200 medley relay team, consisting of Kort Cook, Kade Cook, Michael Haines and Heeke, finished with a time of 1:54.36 to take first place.
The 400 freestyle relay team — Sheppard, Kade Cook, Haines and Kuhlman — beat McPherson’s second-place time by 10 seconds, finished with 3:44.6.