Girls swim takes second at league; Brown prepares for state

The Miami County girls swim team poses for a picture following their second place finish at the Independent League Championship last Thursday in Osawatomie. Sophomore Claire Brown will represent Louisburg at the Class 5-1A state meet Saturday in Topeka.

OSAWATOMIE — It was memorable season for the Miami County girls swim team, especially on the Louisburg side of it all.

Louisburg, which joined the Osawatomie-Paola team this season, ended its year with a runner-up finish in the Independent League Championship last Thursday in Osawatomie.

The team finished with 206 points to take second place, while Piper won the league title with 264 points.

Although the season is over for most of the swimmers, there is still one Louisburg athlete going strong.

Sophomore Claire Brown qualified for the Class 5-1A state meet and will compete two events Saturday at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka.

Brown becomes the first swimmer in Louisburg history to swim at a state competition and she is looking forward to the challenge.

“Going into season I had a ton of confidence in myself, which help the mindset of working toward that goal,” Brown said. “It is crazy that I am the first girl to qualify for Louisburg swim, and I’m very lucky to have such great support.”

Brown will swim in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard freestyle Saturday. As for how it ends up, she just wants to better herself.

“I’m just hoping to go into state to improve on my personal times, and compete,” Brown said. “Overall I thought for the first year as a small team we did very well. A lot of the girls already had prior experience which helped, and hopefully our team continues to grow. I am very excited to have the opportunity to compete at state as a sophomore. I’ve worked hard and it is paying off.”

Brown provided some memorable moments last last week’s meet, with the help of many of her teammates.

She teamed up with senior Sydney Keaton, sophomore Abby Bradley and freshman Ashley Branine to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in a season-best time of 1 minute and 55 seconds.

Brown also went on to finish second in the 100 freestyle with a personal best time of 59.45 seconds. She also took runner-up in the 200 freestyle with a personal best time of 2:13.

The relay team of Keaton, Bradley, Brown and Branine also took third in the 200 medley relay (2:17). Dana Mattison, Libby Barnett, Addie Stuebner and Brianna Shippy finished fourth in the 400 freestyle relay (4:58)

Mattison also went on to take fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:36) and 500 freestyle (7:08).

Other swimmers with top five finishes was Branine as she took fifth in the 50 freestyle (29.15) and 100 freestyle (1:05). Stuebner took fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:16).

The team also had to say goodbye to seniors Sydney Keaton and Libby Barnett as they competed in their final meet.

“Everyone at the meet raced their hardest and we came out as second, which was great for our first year,” Brown said. “It was a great feeling to win the 200 free relay, as it was our last time as a Louisburg group together.”

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