Day 2 Swimming thoughts…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
It’s nearly 8 on a Saturday night, but I am done. Unfortunately, I was not able to fit in all the coverage I was hoping for.
So don’t fret if not all of the great outings today don’t make Sunday’s paper. There is still plenty more to come. Look for a story on the McGuinness girls as well as notes and the lengthy results.
Three out of four ain’t bad, right? Jenks dominated the boys field and held off Tulsa Union for the girls title. McGuinness girls cruised to the title while Bixby is the lone blemish as the Spartans won the 5A boys. I predicted Heritage Hall, who placed fourth.
Thoughts, observations, etc.
- Several multi-time winners today. Isaac McKnight gave Chickasha its first swimming titles ever. Putnam North’s Parris Schoppa achieved her dream of winning both the 50 and 100 free.
- Dakota Wheeler of Westmoore came out of nowhere this year to smoke the field in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke.
- Typ Whinnery of Deer Creek impressed me with his ability to win the 500 free by a lengthy margin and then coming back to win the 100 breaststroke not that much later.
- Norman North’s Ian McKenzie has always been a bridesmaid but Saturday became the bride. He’s won 16 medals in four years with the T’Wolves but his win by less than three-tenths vs. Jenks’ Jacob Pearce in the 100 freestyle was his first title.
- Edmond Memorial’s Jill Enge and Edmond North’s Nikki Colton were attached at the hip. In the 200 IM, it was Colton edging out Enge by .04 to earn second (Putnam West’s Kaylee Steffen won). Then in the 100 breaststroke, it was Enge returning the favor, beating Colton by .07 to win the event.
- Narayan Naik of Heritage Hall earned a couple of titles and early on, it appeared the Chargers might be taking home a title. But Bixby came up huge down the stretch and Fort Gibson and Harrah made late surges. The Harrah team surprised me the most. Coach Guy Worth got every bit he could from his boys and girls.
- Had a chance to talk with Classen’s Josh Morgan, who is serving as the school sponsor for freshman Chelsea Ye. Ye won two titles Saturday. Morgan told me he swam club when he was younger, “but that was a long time ago.” He’s in awe and loving every minute of it with Ye’s success. She should be the toast of the school come Monday.
- Jenks’ student body lets their voices be heard. You knew when the Trojans were about to win an event or did win one. Congrats to John Turner’s teams for pulling off the double once again.
- When the swimmers marched in for the final, music was played. Your usual anthem of hype jams were played, except for one glaring example. Josh Turner’s “Me and God” was the theme for the boys 6A 500 free. I’m not knocking it, just thought it was a strange “get hyped” song.
- Your swimmers of the year. 6A boys: (tie) Nelson Head of Tulsa Union and Norman North’s Ian McKenzie. 6A girls: Parris Schoppa of Putnam North. 5A boys: Taylor Westby of Tulsa Kelley. 5A girls: Grace Peters of Harrah.
- Making it two classes was a good move. Dare I say an excellent move. The atmosphere was fantastic. The crowd was huge. The amount of swimmers only makes more kids in the future want to come out. I said before about how it gave the “little man” a chance to hope.
It did. Teams like Harrah and Chickasha and Deer Creek don’t have much hope vs. 6A teams. But man did they provide some moments in 5A.
- Special thanks to the Deer Creek moms for helping me out so much this weekend. Whether it was results or answering questions, it’s much appreciated.
- Look for a ton of post-swim videos with some of the individual champions either late Sunday or Monday. And now I got even more work to do. Out of all these great outings, who deserves to the boys and girls All-City Swimmer of the Year? Hmm, I’m non-commital at this point.
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The 5A and 6A events need to be split as far as the timing of the actual events. Too may parents were turned away at the door by the fire marshall and security guards, because of over-crowding. Some people were actually thrown out after being admitted to the gym, and they did not recieve a refund either. What a shame it was for some of the parents not to be able to watch their kids compete in the state meet! If a fire had broke out or some other type similar incident had occured, the results could have been catastrophic. This should never ever happen again!