The Lowry High School swim team closed out its most successful season in school history last Saturday at the NIAA State Swimming Championships on the campus on UNLV.
"I wanted the kids to go out there and compete and not just be happy to be there," said LHS coach Mike Owens. "In the past it was a thrill for us to make state. Right now, we have the kids that can compete at a high level and they did that. You can see the stress that gets to the kids and they did a good job of handling it."
The girls 200-yard freestyle relay of Madison Lozano, Emma Kracaw, Kenzie Maddox and Kelsea Perkinson were third with a time of 1 minute, 54.87 seconds. Boulder City won the event with a state-record time of 1:41.74 and South Tahoe was second at 1:50.16.
"The girls swam a great race," Owens said. "We almost didn't get to race, I thought there was a break like we did at the regional. We went out to start the race and Kenzie was in the front to start the race, but Madison was our lead off swimmer. She got on to the starting block and moved a little and I thought we were done. They brought all the swimmers back up and we were able to get going again."
Perkinson, a sophomore, was the only individual for Lowry to compete in two events. She was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle at 27.97, Boulder City's Alex Hubel set as state record with a time of 23.48 and Boulder City's Jessica Purdy was second at 25.63.
Perkinson placed seventh in the 100-yards breaststroke at 1:18.08 and was .06 seconds out of sixth. Truckee's Brittney Straw swam a state-record time of 1:05.09 to win. Boulder City's Natalie Grothe was second at 1:10.38.
Lozano (1:00.87) and Maddox (1:04.28) were fifth and seventh, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle.
"My goal for the swimmers was to finish above where they were seeded," Owens said. "A majority of the kids did that. I can't remember the last time we had two swimmers in the same event at state. Kenzie told Madison that she was going to stick to her hip during the race and she went out and did that. Those two had a long day with two relays as well."
Despite feeling under the weather, Emma Kracaw finished seventh in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:25.35. Boulder City's Cori Molisse won the race in a time of 1:54.25.
The girls 400-yard freestyle of Perkinson, Lozano, Kracaw and Maddox were fourth with a time of 4:19.89. Boulder City beat the state record by eight seconds to finish at 3:37.71.
The girls 4x800 relay of Maddox, Sabrina Jensen, Bridget Cervantes and Katlyn Barnes were eighth at 2:23.43. Barnes filled in fir Kracaw
"Katlyn jumped in a did a good job for us," Owens said. "It was one of those last-minute changes."
The Lady Bucks placed fifth as a team with 38 points, its highest finish in school history. Boulder City ran away with the team title with 220 points and Truckee was second at 78. South Tahoe (65) and Faith Lutheran (44) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Lowry girls were also named the Division I-A state academic champions.
Matthew Jock led the way for the Buckaroo boys, finishing sixth in the 50-yard freestyle at 24.81,Faith Lutheran's Bowen Becker (21.37) and Boulder City's Evan Klouse (21.91) were first and second.
"It was the same thing for Matthew," Owens said. "He came in seeded at seventh and finished sixth. He had a great day."
Tristen Waller was seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:14.36. Truckee's Alex Straw set a new state record to win the event at 55.99.
Christian Gray finished eighth in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:06.93. Boulder City's Joseph Gebhart won at 51.50.
The boys 400-yard freestyle of Garrett Gray, Marcus Molina, Jock and Leo Avila were fifth in a time of 3:52.80.
"I was proud of all the kids," Owens said. "They went down and represented Lowry well. We had a young team and a majority of the swimmers have been to state two years in a row now. What made this year so great was everyone got along. They accomplished so many of their goals. We peaked at the right time."
Contact Tony Erquiaga at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
