Great Bend Post
Several Lady Panther swimmers headed to Topeka Friday for day one of the Class 5-1A State Swimming and Diving Championships. A top-16 finish in preliminary events was required to advance to day-two finals. The top-eight teams will medal on Saturday.
The 200-medley relay team of Emilee Hall, Clarise Snapp, Elly Somers, and Josephine Mazouch reset the school record twice this season. The girls advanced to the finals in 11th place with a 2:00.27. A 1:56.85 was the No. 8 time in Friday’s prelims.
The 400-free relay will also compete in day two. The squad of Mazouch, Somers, Hall, and Braylee Carper placed 15th in 4:08.27 to stave off elimination by four seconds. St. Thomas Aquinas swam the No. 8 prelim time in 3:54.54.
Hall just missed the finals in the 100-back. Her time of 1:06.07 was good enough for 18th, just 0.62 seconds behind the last finals qualifier. Snapp finished 24th in the 100-breast in 1:21.14. Andover took the final qualifying spot in that race in 1:15.41.
Somers finished 21st in the 100-butterfly in 1:07.38. Bishop Carroll swam a 1:05.84 for the final spot in the finals. Mazouch placed 19th in the 100-free in 58.90, missing the finals by 0.55 seconds.
The 200-free relay team of Hall, Somers, Mazouch, and Sydney Kruckenberg disqualified.