Celebrating Senior Night, the Fremont High School swimming and diving teams swept Grand Island in their home pool Thursday night.
The Tiger girls were dominant, winning a 100-64 dual, while the boys eked out a 85-84 win at the Dillon Family Aquatics Center.
Of coach David Struble's five seniors, three swim for FHS through its Washington County co-ops. Jane Busboom and Ryleigh Schroeter pioneered the Blair High School collaboration as freshmen, while Dathan Hansen represents both his Tigers and the Arlington Eagles.
Fremont's Micah Moore and Julie Stulens were recognized alongside their fellow 12th-graders during the dual, too.
Busboom, who's set to continue her swimming career in college, earned four first-place finishes against Grand Island. She won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.53, and combined with Schroeter, BHS' Kennedy Zehner, Alexis Rasmussen, Kami Spilinek and Stulens to win relay races, too.
In addition to her two relay victories, Schroeter also won the 100 freestyle in 56.44 seconds and was second in the 200 IM.
Hansen was second in the 100 freestyle, but joined his fellow Tigers for wins in the 200 medley relay (1:48.88), the 200 free relay (1:34.41) and the 400 free relay (3:30.3. Moore, Zayne Kesler, Elliot Vech and Blair's Jacob Hanson contributed across the relay races, too.
Before the dual, Struble noted how much all three Washington County seniors have meant to his program. He recalled going to a Blair school board meeting, successfully campaigning for a co-op to bring Busboom and Schroeter into the fold.
“Jane and Ryleigh, from the start, made a huge impact their freshman year,” the coach said.
Since then, the Blair duo have collected top finishes, including multiple during the NSAA Championships in Lincoln.
“Other than the results and all of the medals and stuff, they're just great kids overall,” Struble said. “In practice, they work hard. They're very good leaders.”
Hansen, meanwhile, has made his largest varsity contributions in recent seasons, making Fremont's state team as a junior.
“We have a small boys team and Dathan is a really smart, educated and competitive person,” Struble said. “He just really helps lead the boys team and also just does anything us coaches say.”
Hansen's best times may still be ahead, too.
“This year, going into (the Heartland Athletic Conference meet) and state, I have a really good feeling he's going to drop a lot of time and has a shot to qualify individually if we can get that time down even more,” Struble said.
In addition to the seniors' efforts against Grand Island, Hanson — the BHS swimmer — added wins in the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke to go with his relay victories.
Hannah Huenink of Blair notched a 1:24.74 win the in the 100-yard breaststroke, too, while Zehner was second in the 500 freestyle.
Arlington's Eli Hansen earned first-place team points in the 1-meter diving event and Blair's LeLah Filows was second in the 200 freestyle. Mason Lau's best results of the dual were a pair of fourth-place relay finishes.
Fremont — and its seniors — next swim 5:30 p.m. today at Lincoln Northeast.
