By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's boys swimming team dominated the Topeka City Championships at Capitol Federal Natatorium Thursday, winning its fifth straight team title by almost 200 points and claiming nearly all the spots on the All-City team.
The Junior Blues racked up 612 points, far outdistancing the 417 scored by Seaman and 408 by Topeka High.
Washburn Rural claimed eight of the 12 spots on the All-City first team, which is determined by individual points scored in the meet.
Washburn Rural senior Brogan Meier won four gold medals Thursday as the Junior Blues ran away with the city team title. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Junior Blues also saw four swimmers – Brogan Meier, Will Powell, Daniel Allen and Jack Miranda – win all four of their races.
In his first season as coach at Washburn Rural after coming over from Topeka West, and as a former swimmer at Seaman, Janson Garman understands the importance of the city meet.
"It’s a big meet. It’s fun to go out there and see how our boys compete,” Garman said. “We swam well, got a lot of best times. We’re excited for (the Centennial League meet).”
Meier claimed the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke and participated in two winning relays. A four-time state qualifier, he said the city meet was a display of the team’s togetherness and depth.
“This has been by far the best year of high school swim for me. And I would guarantee that for some of the other seniors,” Meier said. “With Covid, there were some struggles the first couple of years.
“But this year, we’ve never been more of a team. We’ve had some new people join us, even some new seniors who went out for their first year. But they are getting the hang of it. They’re having fun.”
Washburn Rural's Jack Miranda won four gold medals, two individual events and two relays, in the Junior Blues' run to the city team title. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural freshman Daniel Allen won four gold medals in his first city championships. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Powell swam back-to-back individual events – the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle – and won both. Daniel Allen won the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. And Jack Miranda won both the 200 and 500 freestyle events. Powell, Allen and Miranda also were each part of two winning relay teams.
Two second-place finishes and one third place in relays helped Seaman edge out Topeka High for second in the meet.
Seaman was led by Jack Pekarek, the Vikings’ lone member of the All-City first team. He helped two relay teams to second-place finishes, and he also finished third in both the 50 freestyle and 500 freestyle.
“In general, we had strong leadership that saw a lot of our guys make the All-City second team,” Seaman coach Bernie Tuck said. “Jack Pekarek had great swims. Some of the other guys may have surprised themselves with how they did in the relays and in the individual events, too.”
The opportunity to face off with 6A Washburn Rural allows the smaller schools in the city to gauge themselves, Tuck said.
“City always gives us an idea – especially going into our second year in the United Kansas Conference – it gives us a chance to see where we stand against a 6A team. We can measure ourselves to see where we might stand against the 5A teams at the league meet and at state.”
Topeka High junior Jaxon Cowdin won his third straight city one-meter diving championship Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natorium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The lone non-Washburn Rural competitor to claim gold at the city meet was Topek High one-meter diver Jaxon Cowdin.
Cowdin, a junior, won his third straight city diving title, winning with a six-dive score of 207.85.
TOPEKA WEST INVITATIONAL
At Capitol Federal Natatorium
Team scores
Washburn Rural 612, Seaman 417, Topeka High 408, Hayden 302, Shawnee Heights 214, Topeka West 120
Individual results
200 medley relay — 1. Washburn Rural (Meier, Allen, Miranda, Lemke), 1:44.41; 2. Seaman (Pekarek, Moylan, Cuevas, Barbosa), 1:51.61; 3. Topeka High (Stewart, Toland, Blankenship, Carter), 1:55.31.
200 freestyle — 1. Miranda, Washburn Rural, 1:48.69; 2. Brede, Shawnee Heights, 2:00.81; 3. Lanterman, Washburn Rural, 2:06.66.
200 individual medley — 1. Allen, Washburn Rural, 2:05.38; 2. Lemke, Washburn Rural, 2:09.73; 3. Hoobler, Shawnee Heights, 2:11.94.
50 freestyle — 1. Meier, Washburn Rural, 22.14; 2. Leenerts, Washburn Rural, 23.73; 3. Pekarek, Seaman, 24.10.
1-meter diving — 1. Cowdin, Topeka High, 207.85; 2. Haag, Topeka West, 149.20; 3. Delgado, Topeka High, 142.55.
100 butterfly — 1. Powell, Washburn Rural, 56.08; 2. Blankenship, Topeka High, 59.86; 3. Lanterman, Washburn Rural, 1:04.34.
100 freestyle — 1. Powell, Washburn Rural, 50.28; 2. Leenerts, Washburn Rural, 51.88; 3. Stewart, Topeka High, 52.93.
500 freestyle — 1. Miranda, Washburn Rural, 4:57.71; 2. Morao-Jaspe, Washburn Rural, 5:26.99; 3. Pekarek, Seaman, 5:37.78.
200 freestyle relay — 1. Washburn Rural (Meier, Lemke, Leenerts, Powell), 1:332.43; 2. Shawnee Heights (Domenech, Brede, Benz, Hoobler), 1:39.83; 3. Seaman (Holmes, Biggs, Cuevas, Hochard), 1:40.74.
100 backstroke — 1. Meier, Washburn Rural, 55.93; 2. Lemke, Washburn Rural, 58.83; 3. Brede, Shawnee Heights, 59.21.
100 breaststroke — 1. Allen, Washburn Rural, 1:05.73; 2. Hoobler, Shawnee Heights, 1:06.49; 3. Morao-Jaspe, Washburn Rural, 1:11.24.
400 freestyle relay — 1. Washburn Rural (Leenerts, Allen, Powell, Miranda), 3:23.57; 2. Seaman (Pekarek, Moylan, Holmes, Barbosa), 3:40.54; 3. Washburn Rural (Lanterman, Sinha, Jensen, Mora-Jaspe), 3:49.32.
ALL-CITY
First team
Brogan Meier, Washburn Rural, Will Powell, Washburn Rural, Daniel Allen, Washburn Rural, Jack Miranda, Washburn Rural, Luke Lemke, Washburn Rural, Elijah Leenerts, Washburn Rural, Truman Brede, Shawnee Heights, Evan Hoobler, Shawnee Heights, Andres Morao-Jaspe, Washburn Rural, Alex Lanterman, Washburn Rural, Jack Pekarek, Seaman, Jaxon Cowdin, Topeka High
Second team
Will Stewart, Topeka High, Kinser Barbosa, Seaman, Maximo Cuevas, Seaman, Jeremiah Moylan, Seaman, Dawson Blankenship, Topeka High, Palmer Heskett, Hayden, Pablo Domenech, Shawnee Heights, Lincoln Carter, Topeka High, Sourish Sinha, Washburn Rural, Isaac Hochard, Seaman, Ryan Carson, Hayden, Robert Haag, Topeka West
