Four-peat: NHS girls swim to another conference title

The Newton High School girls’ swimming team remains the only champion the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League Division II-III-IV has ever known.

The Railers won the AV-CTL II-III-IV Championships for the fourth straight year Saturday at the NHS pool. Railer entries won six out of 12 events and outdistanced Winfield 390-299. El Dorado was third, followed by McPherson, Campus, Andover Central, Andover and Circle, which had just one swimmer entered.

Newton claimed 13 out of 36 medals.

“We got several more state qualifiers,” Newton coach Vicki Scheuermann said. “We did it in the 100 back. Kallie Attebery got in in the 100 free. A lot of them had personal bests.”

The Railers opened the meet with a 1-2 finish in diving. Senior Kylie Jantz won with a score of 268.85, less than seven points from the state qualifying score of 275. Senior Emilie Doerksen was right behind at 268.00.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Shelby Gronau, Brittany Winter, Kristen McCurdy and Kallie Attebery won in 1:59.46, missing the meet record by .15 seconds but setting a new school record.

Newton closed the meet with a 1-2 finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Attebery, Gronau, Martha Scheffler and Winter won in 4:12.63. The team of Goering, Meaghan McEachern, Sarah Vogt and Kristen McCurdy took second in 4:19.08. Both teams had wire-to-wire leads over the rest of the field.

Gronau won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:09.35, followed by Amy Goering in second in 2:12.88. Gronau won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:05.22, breaking the required state qualifying mark of 1:05.62.

“It was a very good meet,” Gronau said. “I worked hard, especially on my backstroke to try and get to state. I finally got it. I was happy about that. The relays were strong. We went out strong, and we finished strong.”

Gronau went into the backstroke seeded third, putting her in lane two.

“I was just competing against my own time,” Gronau said. “I was trying to move my arms faster. I didn’t think about anything else or who I was swimming against. I was just worrying about myself.”

Gronau competed at state in all three relays last year. She expects to compete in the backstroke and at least two of the relays at state this year.

“I just want to keep working on the backstroke to get a better time,” Gronau said of her state goal. “I want our relay to have better times.”

Winter retained her title in the 200-yard individual medley, winning in 2:19.95. Winter took second in the 100-yard freestyle in 56.21.

“I was a little disappointed about the 100 free, but it was still my best time of the season,” Winter said. “I was very proud of everyone, especially Shelby making it in the backstroke. I was very excited about that. Overall, I was happy about (the meet). There were some things I could have done better. We’ll work hard for state and cut some times.”

Winter said she isn’t sure what events she’ll compete in at state.

“I thought about a couple of different things,” Winter said. “Today, I wanted to see how my 100 free went to decided whether I’ll compete in that. I’ll probably compete in the 100 fly, because that’s my strong event. I’ve been wanting to do that forever. I just want to play high — better than last year. Our relay teams, I’d like to see place in the top 16, maybe even the top eight.”

Goering took second in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:58.11. Attebery took third in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.05. McCurdy took third in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:07.75. The top three spots in the event were within .57 seconds.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Natalie Hagman, Megan McEachern, McCurdy and Martha Scheffler finished third in 1:51.70.

Lindsey Legako of Winfield won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.56, setting a new meet record. Legako won the 100-yard freestyle in 55.88, also a meet record.

Campus freshman Lizzy DeWitt won the 500-yard freestyle with a record time of 5:35.89. She broke the record by nearly 11 seconds. DeWitt won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:11.08, also a meet record time.

Bailey Young of Winfield won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:07.18. The El Dorado team if Shelby McAllister, Rachelle Warren, Remi Oda and Kaytlan Meyer won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:46.31.

Newton competes in the state meet Friday and Saturday at the Capital Federal Natatorium in Topeka.

“I feel strong when you come out of a meet win like this, then you look at the state times and they are unbelievably faster,” Scheuermann said. “We’ll do a lot of work this week. We’ll taper earlier and try to hold it longer. I think the atmosphere at state is so competitive. We’ve gotten a lot of personal bests at state the last couple of years. Everyone’s tired right now, but they are ready to go. This was a good meet.”