Senior swimmer Zane Leibhart broke the NPHS 100 yard breaststroke record at only the second swim meet for North Platte High School, with an exceptional time of 1:04.23 at the McCook Invitational on Dec. 8.

Leibhart got first in that event and in addition, got first in the 200 yard individual medley. When asked about his time, he said, “I swam my best, considering how well conditioned I am.”

Since this is only the second swim meet of the season for NPHS, Leibhart definitely has more goals in the future. “I would like to drop a couple more seconds, but my overall time goal is to just get under a minute in the 100 breast. With that [in mind], at state, I would like to make the finals,” he said.

The team also placed first overall in the meet, with other swimmers winning multiple events. “We had a lot of personal bests and many young swimmers who got their first times ever,” said head coach Brian Jahnke. Junior Montana Heffernan won the 100 yard backstroke and the 200 yard freestyle; senior Scott Dike the 100 yard butterfly; and junior Luke Entz placing first in the 50 yard and 100 yard freestyle. Both the 200 freestyle and the 200 yard medley relay teams placed first as well.
The previous record holder was Sean Shanahan, with a time of 1:04.52. The record has been standing for almost 11 years.

After breaking the record, Leibhart said, “I just wanted to jump up and down and run around in circles. It was probably the coolest sporting moment of my life.”