Great Bend Post Sports
A pair of Class 6A powers dominated the waters at Barton Community College Monday evening. Manhattan won the Great Bend Invite with 581 points followed by Garden City with 468 points. The Panthers scored 371 points in third, with Southeast of Saline wrapping up the quad with 40 points.
The Panthers flexed their muscle in the 500 free with three of the top-five finishes. Matthew Williams finished second in 6:48.95 to miss the gold by 27 seconds. Mark Sperlein placed third in 7:08.22, and Jordan Sander swam fourth in 7:16.19.
Sperlein was joined by Logan Urban, Cade Urban, and Kale Mermis on the 400 free relay team that finished third in 4:51.52 to miss the silver by 42 seconds. Sperlein, Williams, Sander, and Logan Urban placed fifth in the 200 medley relay in 2:26.06 to miss the bronze by 21 seconds. The team of Leo Bashor, Dylon Kalivoda, AJ Schartz, and Tyler Scheuerman placed sixth in 3:02.21.
Mermis placed fifth in the 200 free in 2:32.87 to miss the bronze by 15 seconds. Sander hit the wall less than two seconds later for sixth in 2:34.33. Sperlein placed fifth in the 200 IM in 2:54.32, 15 seconds off bronze pace. Schartz swam seventh in 3:29.11. Mermis had another fifth-place finish in the 100 free in 1:06.94 to miss the bronze by nine seconds. Logan Urban finished seventh in 1:18.34, and Charlie Maharjan placed eighth in 1:28.94.
Logan Urban cut a second off his seed time for seventh in the 50 free in 29.77, three seconds off the bronze. Bashor cut four seconds from his seed time for ninth in 36.67, and Scheuerman cut nearly a second for 10th in 37.72. Bashor finished sixth in the 100 back in 1:39.92, 29 seconds behind the bronze. Scheuerman finished eighth in 1:59.54.
Great Bend's 200 free relay of Sander, Scheuerman, Mermis, and Williams placed fifth in 2:08.84, 18 seconds behind third-place Garden City. The Panther squad of Bashor, Kalivoda, Schartz, and Cade Urban finished sixth in 2:29.98.