Great Bend Post Sports
The Panther swim team opened its season Thursday at Salina Central. Campus won the meet with 554 points, followed by Garden City with 416 points, and Hays with 350 points. Great Bend scored 236 points for fourth place.
The 400 free relay team of Matthew Johnson, Mark Sperlein, Jordan Sander, and Kale Mermis led the way with a fourth-place finish in 4:48.30 to miss the bronze by 46 seconds. The team of Leo Bashor, Dylon Kalivoda, Randy Weber, and AJ Schartz placed ninth in 6:16.89.
Sander had the team's best individual finish in the 500 free race where he finished fifth in 7:31.94 to miss the bronze by 68 seconds. He finished seventh in the 200 free in 2:38.61, 26 seconds behind the bronze. Williams finished sixth in the 100 breast in 1:29.05 to miss fourth place by just over five seconds and the bronze by just over seven seconds.
Both swimmers made up half of the 200 medley relay alongside Sperlein and Mermis that finished eighth in 2:19.08, 17 seconds off bronze pace. Sperlein finished seventh in the 200 IM in 2:54.21, followed by Williams in eighth in 3:03.83. A 2:39 was needed for the top three.
Cade Urban sprinted his way to a 14th-place finish in the 50 free in 37.02 to miss the bronze by 13 seconds. Kalivoda finished behind Urban in 37.89. Mermis placed ninth in the 100 fly in 1:39.09 to miss the bronze by 27 seconds, and Sperlein placed ninth in the 100 back in 1:26.35.
The 200 free relay team of Weber, Bashor, Schartz, and Tyler Scheuerman placed seventh in 2:36.23, followed by the Panther squad of Kalivoda, Cade Urban, Logan Urban, and Charlie Maharjan in eighth with a time of 2:38.76.