High School State Championships: Kansas Girls Divisions 5-1A, 6A

TOPEKA, Kansas, May 23. THREE records–all during Division 6A prelims–were lowered during the Kansas Girls State High School Championships May 17-19 in Topeka. Girls compete in divisions 5-1A and 6A.

Division 5-1A
Blue Valley (Stillwell) claimed first place with their 303-point total. Newton was the runner-up team, scoring 262 points. Blue Valley Southwest (Overland Park) took third (202.5). St. Thomas Aquinas, also located in Overland Park, scored 181 points for fourth, just ahead of Seabury Academy's (Lawrence) 178.

Andover senior Audra Hansen enjoyed victory in both the 50 and 100 free (24.73 and 52.92), as did Newton senior Betti Fuhr in the 100 breast (1:07.60) and 200 IM (2:08.62) and Seabury sophomore Phoebe Grabill in the 500 free (5:10.95) and 100 fly (59.15). Kate Wickham, a junior at The Independent School (Wichita), posted a wining 1:58.48 in the 200 free. Blue Valley junior Anna Rasmussen stroked to a 56.95 victory in the 100 back.

Just 2.15 points separated the top two divers, as St. James freshman Courntey Gammil defeated Blue Valley senior Payton Meyer, 350.10-347.95.

Seabury's 200 medley relay of senior Reese Edwards, Grabill, junior Maddie McCaffrey and sopohomore Elizabeth Padgett combined for a 1:53.19 triumph. Newton seniors Christina Entz, Sara Seifer, Sarah Schmiddt and Fuhr put together a 1:41.76 victory in the 200 free relay. Blue Valley Southwest's team of junior Megan Becker, freshman Jacqueline Leonard, junior Katie Kirkpatrick and Rasmussen touched first in the 400 free relay with their 3:43.89.

Division 6A
Washburn Rural senior Haley Molden closed out her high school career by setting two Kansas Division 6A standards in the prelims of both the 200 and 500 free (1:48.63 and 4:50.37). She won both titles in finals with her swims of 1:48.67 in the 200 free and 4:50.62 in the 500 free. Courtney Caldwell, a freshman at Free State (Lawrence), set a mark in the 50 free prelims with her 23.49. She, too, came back to claim first in finals with a 23.70. Caldwell also posted a 51.37 winning time in the 100 free.

Two seniors–Blue Valley North's Grace Stafford and Wichita Southwest's Emily Chesser–dueled in the 100 breast finals to a 1:08.03-1:08.04 finish, with Stafford claiming first. Another close race took place in the 100 back, with Wichita North sophomore Abbey Lasley emerging ahead of Shawnee Mission West senior Kate Snyder, 59.22-59.48.

Shawnee Mission South junior Paige Meredith's 58.75 put her in first in the 100 fly. Lawrence sophomore Gretchen Frick was tops in the 200 IM (2:08.64) and Olathe Northwest freshman Allison Thomas dove her way to victory, scoring 423.60 points.

Molden also participated in two victorious Washburn Rural relays. She was joined in the 200 medley relay by juniors Elise Valdez and Jamie Fritsch, and senior Molly Christensen (1:48.17); senior Molly Rockefeller replaced Valdez in the 400 free relay (3:35.73). Shawnee Mission's team of senior Lanie Leek, sophomore Madeline Peters plus juniors Elizabeth Bittiker and Tiernan Shank combined for a 1:40.71-1:40.89 victory over Olathe East's squad of juniors Shawna Elsey and Audrey Markway with sophomore Anna Elliott and senior Ashlee Foster.

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