The top seeds held true to form during the Class 5-1A State Swimming preliminaries on Friday at the Shawnee Mission District Aquatic Center
 
And in most cases, there was clear separation between them and their closest challengers for Saturday’s final. Of the 11 swimming events, 10 saw more than a second separate the top qualifier form the rest of the field.
 
The one event that didn’t follow that theme is the one that Hillsboro’s Lauryn Vogt has had a stranglehold on since her arrival as a freshman in 2023. Vogt captured the state title in the 50 freestyle her freshman year, winning by nearly a half second in 23.92.
 
She lowered her winning time as a sophomore to a 23.77, winning by .64 seconds over Hays’ Izabel Schmidt. Last year as a junior, Vogt went 23.39 to win by .52 seconds, again over Schmidt.
 
Schmidt has graduated, but Vogt has another challenger that was right on her heels during Friday’s prelims. Leavenworth’s Elisabeth Howell, fourth in the 50 freestyle a year ago, has held the top time in 5-1A this spring with a 24.42 and lowered it to a 24.15 during prelims. Vogt, however, just clipped the Pioneer for the top qualifying spot with a 24.14, setting up what should be the best race of Saturday’s finals with St. Thomas Aquinas’ Lucy Hanna also in the mix after a 24.35 prelim swim.
 
In her other individual event, Vogt has considerably more room for error in the finals. A state champion in the 100 butterfly as a sophomore, Vogt eschewed the event to go after the 100 freestyle title last year and got it. Back in the butterfly this year at state, Vogt qualified first by two and a half seconds in 56.02.
 
While Howell was just shy of Vogt’s top mark in the 50 freestyle, she claimed the top spot in the 100 freestyle with a 52.23, a second faster than Andover’s Hollyn Griffin (53.27) who was in her same heat.
 
Vogt was one of three swimmers to post top qualifying marks in two individual events.
 
Blue Valley Southwest’s Willow Weninger, taking aim at a pair of state titles in two new events this year after winning the 200 and 500 freestyles last year, established herself as the clear favorite in both the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.
 
Weninger was the top qualifier in the 200 IM by two seconds over Norwich’s Kimberlyn Grim, turning in a 2:09.33. She came back to post the top qualifying time in the 100 breaststroke by a second and a half over Lansing’s Makaila Hayes with a 1:06.72.
 
Lansing’s Piper Kobs also has comfortable margins as the top qualifier in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Kobs’ time of 1:53.09 in the 200 freestyle was more than 200 seconds faster than United Kansas Conference rival Jadyn Bruch of Basehor-Linwood, who went 1:55.51. Kobs’ time of 55.65 in the 100 backstroke was nearly four seconds faster than Norwich’s Grim, who went 59.46.
 
Lansing posted the fastest qualifying times in all three relays as well. The Lions went 1:50.39 in the 200 medley relay, nearly a second ahead of Blue Valley Southwest (1:51.38) and also topped the Timberwolves for the top spot in the 400 freestyle relay with a 3:43.48, nearly three seconds ahead of Southwest (3:46.33). 
 
Lansing’s 200 freestyle relay time of 1:43.00 was a second and a half faster than Hillsboro, which went 1:44.56.
 
Basehor-Linwood’s Bruch will be chasing Kobs in the 200 free but will the one being chased in the 500 freestyle as she posted a 5:11.72 qualifying time that was eight seconds faster than Bishop Carroll’s Genevieve Wilhite (5:19.77).
 
After the first two rounds of diving held on Thursday, Maize South’s Sydney Schumaker is in position to pull off an upset in her bid to dethrone Emporia’s Allisyn Weiss, who has captured the state title the past two years. Schumaker finished the semifinals with a score of 331.05 while Weiss was close behind with a 326.00.
 

CLASS 6A PRELIMINARIES

The stars largely stayed on script Friday at the Class 6A State Swim and Dive Championships, but a youthful Blue Valley West squad made perhaps the loudest statement of all. 

Loaded with freshmen and sophomores, the Jaguars surged to the top of the leaderboard in two relay prelims and positioned themselves squarely in the hunt for a state trophy after Day 1 at the Shawnee Mission District Aquatic Center. 

Blue Valley West posted the fastest qualifying times in both the 200-yard medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, giving the Jaguars momentum heading into Saturday’s finals. 

The Jaguars opened the meet with a season-best time of 1 minute, 47.52 seconds in the 200 medley relay, pulling away from Blue Valley North by more than two seconds for the top seed. Blue Valley West followed that performance by narrowly edging Olathe East for the fastest prelim time in the 400 freestyle relay, touching the wall in 3:40.27. 

Blue Valley West freshman Anya Pivonka also emerged as a title contender after narrowly claiming the top seed in the 100 backstroke. Pivonka clocked a 57.29 to edge Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Fia Boshart (57.43) in one of the day’s closest races. The Jaguars added top-three qualifying spots in five other events, putting themselves in strong position entering championship Saturday. 

Olathe East senior Libby Barney looked every bit like a swimmer chasing multiple state crowns. 

Barney secured the top qualifying time in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events and will enter Saturday as the favorite in each race. She dominated the 200 freestyle prelims in 1:52.80, nearly two seconds faster than Blue Valley West’s Hayden Benbow. In the 500 freestyle, Barney again found herself atop the leaderboard, narrowly outpacing Blue Valley West’s Amber Springer, 5:10.52 to 5:11.11. 

The Hawks also received a major boost from sophomore Katharine Costello, who earned the top seed in the 100 breaststroke after touching first in 1:06.13. Costello edged Mill Valley’s Abby Stidham-Ebberts (1:06.34) in another tightly contested preliminary race. 

Meanwhile, Olathe East junior diver Irene Gettya appears firmly in control in her pursuit of a third straight state championship. 

Gettya built a commanding lead during Friday’s diving preliminaries, scoring a 409.00 to take a nearly 100-point advantage into Saturday’s finals. Olathe North’s Avery Metcalf sits second at 311.95. 

Blue Valley Northwest senior Maggie Dahl also put herself in position for a sprint sweep. 

Dahl recorded the fastest qualifying times in both freestyle sprint events, posting a season-best 23.08 in the 50 freestyle to edge Pivonka for the top spot. She followed with another season-best in the 100 freestyle at 50.62, finishing more than three seconds ahead of Derby’s Ridlee Parkhurst. 

Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Boshart secured the No. 1 seed in the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.45, while Free State’s Ella Marsh qualified second. Marsh, however, claimed the top spot in the 200 individual medley after swimming a 2:04.20 in prelims. 

In other relay action, Shawnee Mission East turned in one of the strongest performances of the day in the 200 freestyle relay, posting the fastest time at 1:39.24 to finish just under a second ahead of Blue Valley North.