Miami County girls swim breezes to title in home opener

OSAWATOMIE — The Osawatomie-Paola-Louisburg-Spring Hill girls swim team put on a strong showing in its home opener on April 2 in Osawatomie.

The Miami County team cruised to a first place finish with 402 points in the 5-team meet. Piper finished second with 256 points and Fort Scott was third with 249.

It didn’t stop there when it came to success, especially on the Louisburg side. The Wildcats earned a handful of state qualification and consideration times in what was their second meet of the season.

Louisburg senior Sabra Brueggen recorded state qualification times in three events and earned three first place finishes on the day.

Brueggen won the 100-yard freestyle in a state qualifying time of 56.85 seconds. She took second in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.41, which was also good for another state time. She earned a state mark in the 50 freestyle based on her split in a relay.

That success continued in the 400 freestyle relay as Brueggen, Janie Harth, Cadence Weichert and Ella Bockelman won in a state consideration time of 4:19.60.

Makayla Ellis joined Brueggen, Harth and Weichert to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:55.62.

In other individual races, Harth earned a state consideration time in the 50 freestyle. Harth took second in 27.94 seconds, just behind Fort Scott’s Avery Stewart, who won in 27.86. Harth also went on to take third in the 500 freestyle in 7:19.

Ellis took home top honors in the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:49.14, while Weichert was second in 2:54. Weichert also took second in the 100 freestyle in 1:07 and Ellis was fourth in the 100 butterfly in 1:21.

Bockelman finished runner-up in the 100 backstroke in 1:14 and seventh in the 50 freestyle. Talen McMurray took fifth in the 100 breaststroke and sixth in the 50 freestyle.

The Miami County team is back in action on April 15 when they travel to Blue Valley Northwest. Events begin at 4 p.m.