The Lowry High School swim team will be taking a strong contingent of its squad to the NIAA State Championships this Saturday in Las Vegas.
"We had a talk on Monday about what wee wanted to accomplish," said LHS coach Mike Owens. In the past we were just happy to get to the state championships. Now, that we are in the second year of realignment, we have bigger goals. We want to compete at a high level with the teams down south."
The Lady Bucks qualified all three of its relay teams, beginning with the 200-yard medley of Kenzie Maddox, Bridget Cervantes, Sabrina Jensen and Emma Kracaw. The foursome were fourth in a time of 2 minutes, 23.03, beating out Incline for the final state berth by nearly two seconds.
"Sabrina got us back the race," Owens said. "When she jumped in, she was a body and a half behind. She made that up and Emma swam a strong final leg."
The 200-yard and 400 yard freestyle of Madison Lozano, Maddox, Kracaw and Kelsea Perkinson finished in the runner-up spot. The Lady Bucks had a time of 1:57.68 in the 200 relay. South Tahoe won the race at 1:49.28. Lowry finished with a time of 4:20.35 in the 400, beating out South Tahoe by .02 seconds. Truckee claimed the regional title at 3:59.78.
Perkinson qualified as an individual in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke. The sophomore stopped the clock at 27.37 in the 50-yard freestyle to finish second, with South Tahoe's Kirsten Tang winning at 25.73. Perkinson was fourth in the breaststroke with a time of 1:17.37.
Lozano earned a runner-up finish in the 100-yard freestyle, with a time of 1:01.48, which was .45 seconds behind South Tahoe's Margaret Albrecht. The freshman added a fifth-place outing in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1L16.02. Kenzie Maddox is headed to the state meet in the 100-yard freestyle with a fourth-place finish at 1:06.09. Emma Kracaw was fifth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:26.93.
"Those three have swam well all season," Owens said. "Kelsea was able to get to state in two events and have two of the top four finishers in the 100 is amazing."
The Lady Bucks finished third as a team with 190 points. Truckee won the regional title with 328 points and South Tahoe was a close second at 325. Churchill County (146) and Incline (144) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
On the boys side, Matthew Jock, Christian Gray and Tristen Waller placed fourth in their respective events.
Jock had a time of 24.75 in the 50-yard freestyle to advance to state. In addition, he finished sixth in the 20-yard freestyle at 2:13.13. Gray placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:05.72 and he was fifth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:15.43.
Waller beat out Gray for that final spot to advance to state to place fourth in the breaststroke at 1:13.92. Waller also finished eighth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:17.55.
"I think Tristen surprised himself," Owens said. "He swam a great race and he has come a long way to get where he is."
The 200-yard medley relay of Gray, Waller, JR Perkinson and Leo Avila were third with a time of 2:05.27. Truckee, who had the quickest seed time, was disqualified.
The 400-yard freestyle of Marcus Molina, Waller, Perkinson and Jock were third as well with a time of 4:10.58.
In other finishes, Avila was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle at 24.96 and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle at 58.57, his first time under the minute mark this season. Marcus Molina was eighth in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:02.18, Garret Gray was eighth in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:05.72 and Gray was ninth in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:54.62.
The Buckaroos finished third as a team with 196 points. South Tahoe won the regional title with 282 points and Sage Ridge was second at 325. Truckee (230) was third and Fernley (217) was fourth
The NIAA State Swimming State Championships begin at 2 p.m. on the campus of UNLV.
Contact Tony Erquiaga at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
