After over three months of preparation, the time had come. On February 25-27, North Platte High School swim and dive state qualifiers splashed into Lincoln to compete against the top in the state.
Diving occured on day-one of the meet. Seniors Bekah Brumfield and Morgan Raska competed in the first round, with Brumfield placing 31st and Raska placing 33rd in the girl’s division. Junior Quentone Larson competed later in the boy’s division, placing 22nd overall.
“It was a good experience because I’ve never been exposed to people whose love is for this particular sport,” Raska said. She also enjoyed that heated pool. “It was the real thing that motivated me to get to the state championships,” she said.
The following day, the girl’s 200-medley relay kicked things off for North Platte. They swam a 2:04.77 which was only a half-second slower than their qualifying time. They placed 24 out of 30.
The boys had a consistent race in the 200-medley relay, and later in the day their 200-freestyle relay raced the best they had all season. All four swimmers pulled together to receive their best individual splits, and senior Brian Kennedy swam anchor with the intensity and speed they needed to place first in their heat.
Their final time was a lifetime best of 1:36.56, but even this success was only enough to place them at 22 out of 30 teams.
According to first-time state qualifier, senior Jadyn Boss, “State is very intense and advanced, the swimmers there bring much more competition to the meet.”
Senior Kayleigh Wagner says she has hope that the team will receive better facilities and increased training in order to reach their full potential at the state level in future years. “If we ever want to do well, we will need to get new facilities,” she said.