The boys swim and dive team won the Sunflower League title this past weekend, beating the runner up, Olathe East by 49 points.
The final team score for East was 331 to Olathe East’s 282.
Notable performances from the meet include junior Zack Holbrook and senior Troy Demoss. Both swimmers had two first place finishes to help East to victory.
Holbrook won gold in both the 50m and 100m freestyle. He broke the Sunflower League record in the 50m (21.73 seconds), and recorded a personal record in the 100m race.
“I was really happy with the times I had,” Holbrook Said. “Winning for the tenth time in a row was pretty special especially because we weren’t expected to win by that much.”
Holbrook also said that many swimmers made the time cuts, or came close, which are necessary to qualify for state.
Demoss won gold won gold in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley. He also achieved the league record in the backstroke race with a time of 52.81 seconds. Demoss said he couldn’t have asked for more than two wins and a league record.
“Everyone on the team performed past my expectations,” Demoss said. “I was sure we could win but not by as much as we did. Seeing everyone drop time and swim so well was awesome.”
Junior Jackson Grandstaff said what really contributed to the teams success was the help across the board from all their swimmers. The Thursday before the meet, the head coach Wiley Wright figured the team score according to the seeds for all of the swimmers, and they were then favorited by 13 points. When the Lancers won by 49 points it was apparent that many swimmers did better than expected.
Demoss agrees, and said that if it wasn’t for the lower placing swimmers in the consolation heats they would not have won by as much.
“Everyone swam above and beyond for the team said,” Demoss said.
This was the tenth year in a row that the Lancers have won the league championship, and the phrase “decade of dominance” is now being used to describe the Lancers command of the Sunflower League over the past years.
The Lancers look to continue their success in the pool at the state championships, February 15 and 16, at Hummer Sports Park, in Topeka.
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