Great Bend Post Sports
The Panther swimmers returned to the friendly confines of Barton Community College Tuesday. Several Great Bend swimmers cracked the top-10 in their respective events. Garden City won the invited with 476 points, followed by Hutchinson with 397 points, Hays with 351 points, and Great Bend with 212 points.
Junior Jordan Sander placed fourth in the 500 free in 7:36.22 to miss the bronze by 28 seconds. Hutchinson's Logan Most, a 16th-place finisher at state, won the race by 49 seconds in 5:59. Great Bend senior Andrew McQuade placed fifth in 7:51.34. McQuade also placed seventh in the 200 free in 2:48.09, 25 seconds from the bronze.
Senior Joshua Sharpe had a fourth-place finish in the 100 back in 1:25.68, missing the bronze in a photo finish by just 0.2 seconds. Freshman Kale Mermis placed 10th in 1:34.78.
The 400 free relay team of Sander, Joshua Sharpe, Mermis, and junior AJ Thurman, placed sixth in 5:22.24, 36 seconds behind the bronze winners from Hays. The 200 free relay of McQuade, seniors Adam Hall and Kasey Kennedy, and junior Matthew Williams finished fourth in 1:54.30, just 1.14 seconds behind third-place Garden City.
Kennedy finished fifth in the 50 free in 25.92 to miss the bronze by just half a second. Hall hit the wall in 26.97 for 10th. Williams placed seventh in the 100 breast in 1:29.03, just nine seconds behind the bronze. Mermis placed seventh in the 100 butterfly in 1:43.33, 20 seconds off the bronze. Hall finished ninth in the 100 free in 1:05.20. Four swimmers finished under a minute in that race.