By the Salina Journal
Girls high school swimming and diving teams will close their season with the Kansas State High School Championships this weekend at Hummer Sports Complex Natatorium in Topeka.
Five individuals from Salina Central and four from Salina South have qualified for the state meet, hoping to improve on season-best times during today's preliminary races and possibly qualify for Saturday's finals.
Central's Julia Kaszycki will compete in the maximum four events. The Mustang senior will swim the 200-yard freestyle, 100 butterfly and as a member of Central's 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. Kaszycki is the school varsity record holder in the butterfly.
Kaszycki will be joined on both relays by senior Melanie Miller, junior Amy Shandy and sophomore Sydney Parriott.
Central will also be represented in the diving competition by Ashley Weatherd, who set a Mustang sophomore record in that event earlier this year.
South will have a young contingent competing in the 400 freestyle relay today, where sophomore Kaitlyn Paul and freshmen Morgan Brotton, Caitlin Pretzer and Juliet Korbe will represent the Cougars.
"Out of approximately 50 schools in the state, it's quite an earned honor to get to go to the state championships," Salina coach Keith Smith said, "because they qualify on the basis of measurable performances against the clock."
Competition begins at 1 p.m. today with preliminary heats in the swimming events. The top 16 finishers in each event advance to Saturday's championship and consolation finals.
Diving preliminaries are scheduled for 6 p.m. today, with the top 16 individuals moving on to Saturday's 10 a.m. semifinals. Swimming and diving finals are set for a 12:30 p.m. start Saturday.
Advancing to Saturday's final day of competition would be a top priority, but Smith knows his athletes are also looking to improve on their season-best times and marks.
"We have a good motivational tool that applies a lot at state," Smith said. "We keep a historical top 20 list for both schools, and that's a big deal for our athletes to get their names on that list and move up.
"Every entry we are taking to state is already on that top 20 list, but they have a burning desire to move up and put their names up there higher."
©Salina Journal