Shawnee Mission-East Wins 5th Straight Kansas 6A Title; Blue Valley-Southwest Claims 5-1A Win

TOPEKA, Kansas, May 25. SHAWNEE Mission-East won its fifth consecutive Kansas 6A Girls Swimming and Diving Championship Saturday night in Topeka, scoring 348.5 points to top Lawrence-Free State (322 points) for the title.

Girls 6A

Shawnee Mission-East got the meet started with a narrow victory in the 200 medley relay as Sarah Allegri, Annie Mann, Bonnie Longan and Madeline Peters just out-touched Lawrence-Free State’s Courtney Caldwell, Kara Krannawitter, Cierra Campbell and Sydney Sirimongkhon-Dyck, 1:48.33 to 1:48.53. OP Blue Valley-Northwest, led by Hannah Musser, Lauren Nordell-Morris, Katie Thill and Brigit Jogan, took third in the event in 1:51.04.

In the 200 free, OP Blue Valley-North’s Bentley Hulshof raced to the win in 1:51.92, dropping almost two seconds from her prelims swim. Katya Vakshteyn of OP Blue Valley took second in 1:53.46, while Lawrence-Free State’s Cierra Campbell rebounded from the medley relay minutes earlier to finish third in 1:55.71.

Hannah Musser picked up OP Blue Valley-Northwest’s first win, dominating the 200 IM. Musser won by 10 seconds, touching first in 2:03.74, with Wichita North’s Abbey Lassley in second at 2:13.70. Karah Brown of Olathe-East took third in 2:15.62.

Lawrence-Free State went 1-2 in the 50 free, led by junior Courtney Caldwell in 23.28. Sophomore Sydney Sirimongkhon-Dyck finished second in 24.10, followed by Shawnee Mission-East’s Sarah Allegri in third (24.39).

OP Blue Valley-West’s Emma Roush earned a commanding victory in the 1-meter diving competition, outscoring the field by over 100 points. Roush put up a score of 472.25 to finish ahead of Shawnee Mission-Northwest’s Mallory Wilhite (354.20) and OP Blue Valley-West’s Payton Kisinger (351.45).

Following the diving break, Hannah Musser of OP Blue Valley-Northwest collected her second individual title of the meet, winning the 100 fly by more than two and a half seconds with a 55.15. Wichita East’s Olivia Tran touched second in 57.85, while Hailey Brull of Shawnee Mission-Northwest rounded out the top three finishers in 58.75.

Courtney Caldwell of Lawrence-Free State followed suit by sweeping the sprint freestyle events. Caldwell, who won the 50 free earlier, placed first in the 100 as well with a time of 50.28. Shawnee Mission-East’s Sarah Allegri hit the wall three seconds later in 53.14, just ahead of OP Blue Valley’s Katya Vakshteyn (53.29).

Bentley Hulshof of OP Blue Valley-North added a win in the 500 free to her win in the 200 free earlier with a 5:02.12. Lawrence-Free State’s Cierra Campbell came in 10 seconds later at 5:12.21. Emily Minick of Shawnee Mission-East claimed third place honors in 5:17.96.

For the second time of the night, a relay finish came down to the touch. This time, OP Blue Valley-Northwest got the win in the 200 free relay, as Hallie Breidenthal, Katie Thill, Claire Albright and Hannah Musser touched first in 1:39.43. Lawrence-Free State’s foursome of Cierra Campbell, Eliza Anderson, Alexa Malik and Sydney Sirimongkhon hit the wall two-tenths behind in 1:39.65. Grace Brimacombe, Shay Panowicz, Marjie Trussell and Bentley Hulshof of OP Blue Valley-North came in third in 1:40.13.

In one of the closest individual finals of the night, Shawnee Mission-East’s Bonnie Longan hung on for the win in the 100 back, touching out Wichita East’s Olivia Tran, 56.91 to 57.15. Lawrence-Free State picked up another top three finish from Eliza Anderson, who came in third in 58.86.

Wichita East’s Aiden Chan brought home the final individual title up for grabs by touching first in the 100 breast in 1:08.63. Shawnee Mission-Northwest’s Hailey Brull touched second in 1:09.23, ahead of Shawnee Mission-East’s Annie Mann (1:09.55).

Lawrence-Free State capped the meet with a second relay win as Eliza Anderson, Simone Herlihy, Alexa Malik and Courtney Caldwell posted a 3:34.10 to take home the 400 free relay win. Shawnee Mission-East’s foursome of Sarah Allegri, Bonnie Longan, Emily Minick and Claire Gilman came in second in 3:37.79. OP Blue Valley-North’s Grace Brimacombe, Delaney Cross, Marjie Trussell and Bentley Hulshof took third in 3:41.37.

Girls 5-1A

OP Blue Valley-Southwest scored 208 points Saturday night to successfully defend its 5-1A state title from a year ago. Maize-South finished second with 176 points, just ahead of Wichita-Heights’ 172 points.

OP Saint Thomas Aquinas’ quartet of Caroline Backs, Laila Carter, Bri Bittel and Holly Hanson combined efforts to post the fastest time in the 200 medley relay at 1:52.43. Madison Hutchison, Kayla Hennen, Gaby Biby and Tatum Hilger of Wichita-Bishop Carroll touched second in the event in 1:54.89. Maize-South’s Stephanie Severe, Emily Rozar, Mia Gibson and Maranda Wagner came in third in 1:56.15.

Wichita-Heights’ Katelyn Blattner claimed the first individual event title up for grabs, topping the field in the 200 free with a 1:54.41. McKynley Larson of Topeka-Seaman dropped more than four seconds from her prelim time to take second in 1:55.04, while Andover’s Meg Plank rounded out the top three with the only other sub-2:00 swim of the day in 1:56.67.

In the 200 IM, OP Blue Valley-Southwest’s Maddie Carrigan sliced about three seconds off her prelim swim to take first in 2:09.12. Taylor Kostboth of Wichita-Trinity Academy had a huge swim in finals as well, dropping five seconds to finish second in 2:10.77. Hanna McGowan of Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights rounded out the top three in 2:14.07.

The final of the 50 free came down to the touch as the top six competitors were separated by just over half a second. Maggie Hatfield of Wichita-Heights led the way in 24.23, just .07 in front of Wichita-Trinity Academy’s Kendall Kilgore (24.30). Holly Hanson of OP Saint Thomas Aquinas touched .06 behind Kilgore in 24.36.

In diving action, Becca Gregory of OP Blue Valley-Southwest took the top spot with 330.35 points. Lauren Gothard of Lenexa-St. James placed second with 310.45 points and Blair Meyer of Emporia finished third with 262.20 points.

Shawnee Mission-Bishop Miege freshman Cailey Grunnhard earned her first state title in the 100 fly, posting a 57.33 to finish almost a second in front of Wichita-Bishop Carroll’s Madison Hutchison (58.21). Phoebe Edwards of Lawrence-Bishop Seabury came in third in 59.29.

Mia Gibson of Maize-South claimed the 100 free title by about half a second, stopping the clock in 52.62. Wichita-Heights’ Maggie Hatfield dropped more than two and a half seconds from prelims to take second in 53.07, while Kendall Kilgore of Wichita-Trinity Academy placed third in 53.56.

Lawrence-Bishop Seabury senior Phoebe Edwards closed out her high school career with a state title in the 500 free. Edwards touched first in 5:05.90, about three seconds ahead of Wichita-Heights’ Katelyn Blattner (5:08.86). Camille Parman of Topeka-West rounded out the top three in 5:15.18.

OP Saint Thomas Aquinas won its second relay of the day as Laila Carter, Caroline Backs, Bri Bittel and Holly Hanson topped the 200 free relay in 1:40.37. Wichita Trinity Academy’s Taylor Kostboth, Abby Davis, Bliss Baird and Kendall Kilgore finished second in 1:41.15, while Wichita Heights’ Kelsey Buller, Alyssa Packer, Katelyn Blattner and Maggie Hatfield (1:42.78) came in third.

Wichita-Bishop Carroll’s Madison Hutchison put her stamp on the 100 back with a 56.91, just off her prelim time of 56.83. Mia Gibson of Maize-South came in second at 57.43 and Cailey Grunnhard of Shawnee Mission-Bishop Miege placed third (57.81).

Hanna McGowan of Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights claimed the final individual event title up for grabs by winning the 100 breast in 1:06.67. OP Blue Valley-Southwest’s Maddie Carrigan swam a 1:07.55 to take second ahead of Maize South’s Emily Rozar, who came in at 1:09.22.

Wichita-Heights’ Kelsey Buller, Alyssa Packer, Katelyn Blattner and Maggie Hatfield topped the final 400 free relay in 3:45.78, a fraction ahead of Wichita-Trinity’s Taylor Kostboth, Abby Davis, Bliss Baird and Kendall Kilgore, who came in at 3:46.02. OP Blue Valley-Southwest’s Jacqueline Leonard, Madison Ruffalo, Logan Johnson and Maddie Carrigan came in third at 3:46.97.

Full results can be found on the Meet Mobile app.

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