Boys swim team finishes first in home opener

Louisburg senior Cole Brown swims the breaststroke during last Monday’s home meet in Osawatomie. The Miami County finished first out of six teams.

OSAWATOMIE — It was certainly a successful home opener for the Osawatomie-Paola-Louisburg boys swim team last Monday in Osawatomie.

The Miami County team finished first in the team standings with 278 points, out of six teams. Topeka-Hayden was second with 205.

In all, the OZ-PAO-LOU team won five events and captured several top five finishes.

“It was extremely satisfying to win at home and put forth a solid team effort,” coach Mary Argeropoulos said.

They started on a strong note with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. Brayton Brueggen, Braden Branine, Remington Rice and Cooper Hipp took first going away in 1 minute and 59.53 seconds.

Brueggen later went on to win the 200 freestyle in 2:14 and Luke Hebert was second. Cole Brown followed it up with a victory in the 200 individual medley in 2:26.

Rice finished runner-up in the 50 freestyle in 25.46, while Hipp and Sam Johnson were fourth and fifth, respectively. 

Johnson went on to win the 100 butterfly in 1:03, Rice was second at 1:08 and Drake Burdine was fourth. Burdine also took second in the 100 backstroke in 1:22.

Brown and Hipp finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 freestyle and Drake Baus took fifth. Branine later took third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.

In the relays, Johnson, Burdine, Hebert and Rice won the 400 freestyle in 4:03, while the team of Hipp, Brueggen, Hebert and Johnson took second in the 200 freestyle in 1:44. Baus, Colton Prettyman, Evan Retinger and Brown were third in the 200 freestyle.

It has been a successful year so far for the Miami County team as they have three of the top times in the state according to the Kansas State High School Activities Association.

The 400 freestyle relay has the 14th best time in the state, while 200 freestyle relay and 200 medley really are currently 20th in Class 5-1A.

OZ-PAO-LOU are coming off a pair of outings where it had success on the road. 

On Dec. 8, the team traveled to Topeka for the Hayden Invitational and left with a third place team finish with 274 points. Washburn Rural won with 468 and Piper was second with 350.

The 200 freestyle relay highlighted the meet with a second place finish as the team of Rice, Hebert, Hipp and Johnson recorded a time of 1:43.

Brueggen took fourth in the 500-yard freestyle and fifth in the 100 backstroke. Brueggen also helped the 200 medley relay of Brown, Rice and Johnson to a fourth place finish.

Brown also took fifth in the 200 individual medley and helped Baus, Hipp and Brueggen to a fourth place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.

The team is back in action at home on Jan. 19 for its first action in 2022.

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