Great Bend Post Sports
The Panther swim team was supposed to open 2024 with a meet in Derby on Jan. 16. Winter weather halted that event so the swimmers had to wait until Monday's home meet to bring in the New Year. Great Bend scored 287 points for fourth place out of five teams. Manhattan scored 578 points for the win, followed by Garden City with 487 points.
The 200 medley relay team of Andrew McQuade, Matthew Williams, Kasey Kennedy, and Adam Hall finished third in 2:06.19, less than three seconds behind the silver.
Kennedy placed third in the 50-yard free in 25.21 to miss the silver by half a second and miss the state consideration time by 0.63 seconds. Kennedy placed fourth in the 100-yard breast in 1:14.20, four seconds off the bronze-medal pace. Hall finished seventh in the race in 26.65. Hall also placed seventh in the 100-yard free in 1:01.49 to miss the bronze by just more than a second.
McQuade finished fifth in the 500-yard free in 7:12.74 to miss the bronze by 35 seconds. Jordan Sander followed him in 7:20.97 for sixth. Sander placed seventh in the 200-yard free in 2:32.47, 18 seconds behind the bronze. Joshua Sharpe placed 10th in 2:51.23. Williams finished seventh in the 200-yard IM in 3:04.34 to miss the bronze by 22 seconds. Kale Mermis placed eighth in 3:07.31, and AJ Thurman hit the way in 3:28.50 for 10th. Mermis placed seventh in the 100-yard back in 1:26.69, 12 seconds behind the bronze.
The 200-yard free relay team of Hall, Williams, McQuade, and Kennedy placed fifth in 1:52.75, four seconds behind the bronze medalists from Manhattan. The 400-yard free relay team of Mermis, Thurman, Sander, and Sharpe placed seventh in 5:01.48.