By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Seaman girls swim team returns a lot of the pieces from its fourth place finish a year ago with one new component, new head coach Daryl Halsey. Halsey and the Vikings placed third at the Topeka West Girls Invitational meet at Capitol Federal Natatorium on Thursday, highest among the five Topeka schools to compete.
Seaman's Avery Walz picked up three gold medals in Thursday's season-opening Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman's Joslynn Grace reacts to her time in Thursday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Halsey coached the Seaman team 10 years ago before moving from Topeka. A decade later, he inherits a talented crew.
Halsey said the Vikings graduated a good senior class last year but noted that several of the strongest swimmers returned.
Led by state medalists Avery and Tauren Walz and Joslynn Grace, the Vikings accumulated 279 points in the meet, trailing Lansing with 417 and McPherson with 368.
“I think this is an amazing group of girls,” Halsey said. “I think we have a lot of potential and think it’s going to be a really good year overall.
“We returned some girls who are stepping up into those leadership roles now that they’re a little bit older themselves, and they are able to show the younger swimmers what it’s all about. In that sense, I’m incredibly lucky.”
The Walz twins, who each collected four medals at the state meet a year ago, were the Vikings’ top scorers on Thursday. Avery Walz won the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle events while Tauren Walz placed first in the 50-yard freestyle and second in the 100-yard butterfly.
Grace claimed second place in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breastroke. Last year, she finished fifth in the 200-yard individual medley at state. She has high expectations for herself and her team this year.
“I feel like I’ve grown because I’ve been training a lot,” Grace said. “I really want our team to get a plaque (by finishing in the top three) at state this year. And I would like to get a medal in both my events because last year I only medaled in one.”
On Thursday, the Vikings’ combination of the Walz twins, Grace and Lizzie Gould placed first in the 400-yard freestyle relay and second in the 200-yard medley relay.
“I think that we have a lot of strong leadership, even from underclassmen like Joslynn,” Halsey said. “She’s stepped up and taken more of a leadership role on the team, which is fantastic.”
“I feel like I help out the new people on the team, which is really cool,” Grace said. “I can give a little bit more leadership. I know what to expect more, particularly from the bigger meets and handling nerves.”
Halsey saw some of the ups and downs that come with the first meet of each season.
“The first meet, you never really know what to expect. It can be a little bit rough,” Halsey said. “You have a lot of new swimmers who don’t know what’s going on. But I think everybody, across the board, did good. It just gives you a good gauge for where you can go in the future.”
Fourth-place Shawnee Heights trailed Seaman by just 14 points. The T-Birds were led by Ashtynn Landry, who placed third in the 100-yard freestyle and helped the 200-yard freestyle relay to second place.
Hayden and Topeka High placed fifth and sixth, respectively.
The highlight for the Trojans was the first-place medal claimed by diver Brianna Delvin.
Hayden's Presley Green (midddle) looks up to the scoreboard to see her finishing time in Thursday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Medaling for Hayden was Presley Green, who came in second in the 500-yard freestyle.
TOPEKA WEST INVITATIONAL
Team scores
Lansing 417, McPherson 368, Seaman 279, Shawnee Heights 265, Hayden 165, Topeka High 162, Wichita Collegiate 154, Wichita Trinity Academy 140, Piper 131, Topeka West 43, Southeast of Saline 30, Bonner Springs 25, Wichita Independent 24
Individual results
200 medley relay — 1. McPherson (Brunk, Schmidt, Wiens, Williams), 2:00.01; 2. Seaman (Gould, A. Walz, Grace, T. Walz), 2:03.47; 3. Lansing (Kankelfitz, Platt, Verzola, Archambault), 2:05.90.
200 freestyle — 1. A. Walz, Seaman, 2:00.13; 2. Bruch, Lansing, 2:04.07; 3. Archambault, Lansing, 2:09.19.
200 individual medley — 1. Hayes, Lansing, 2:18.55; 2. Grace, Seaman, 2:19.44; 3. Brunk, McPherson, 2:21.63.
50 freestyle — 1. T. Walz, Seaman, 25.61; 2. Grace, Wichita Collegiate, 25.72; 3. Verzola, Lansing, 25.90.
1-meter diving — 1. Delvin, Topeka High, 207.15; 2. Gregg, Hayden, 189.40; 3. Phillips, Topeka High, 109.35.
100 butterfly — 1. Howard, Wichita Trinity, 58.84; 2. T. Walz, Hayden, 1:01.62; 3. Hayes, Lansing, 1:02.85.
100 freestyle — 1. A. Walz, Seaman, 54.68; 2. Archambault, Lansing, 57.23; 3. Landry, Shawnee Heights, 1:01.84.
500 freestyle — 1. Bruch, Lansing, 5:42.43; 2. Green, Hayden, 5:43.31; 3. Pickerell, McPherson, 5:58.80.
200 freestyle relay — 1. McPherson (Williams, Wiens, Schmidt, Brunk), 1:48.59; 2. Shawnee Heights (Ostazewsha, Cole, Fernandez, Landry), 1:57.07; 3. Hayden (Green, Gregg, Herrera, Lowman), 1:57.94.
100 backstroke — 1. Brunk, McPherson, 1:00.75; 2. Del Castillo, Topeka High, 1:07.67; 3. Carstensen, Piper, 1:09.01.
100 breaststroke — 1. Howard, Wichita Trinity, 1:08.31; 2. Grace, Seaman, 1:13.06; 3. Platt, Lansing, 1:19.17.
400 freestyle relay — 1. Seaman (T. Walz, Grace, Gould, A. Walz), 4:01.36; 2. Lansing (Kankelfitz, Yedlinsky, Archambault, Hayes) 4:08.20; 3. Piper (Kindle, Ochs, Dean, Carstensen), 4:35.06.
