The celebratory squeals were appropriate.
The Fremont girls' 400-yard free relay team closed prelims with a school-record swim Friday during the NSAA State Swimming & Diving Championships in Lincoln. Arlington's Lizzie Meyer, Blair's Ryleigh Schroeter and Jane Busboom, and Madelyn Buck of FHS stopped the clock in 3:35.72, moving onto the championship finals together as the second seed.
“The team did so well,” Schroeter said after a full morning of swims. “I'm so proud.”
Twenty-four hours later at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, Fremont's Washington County representatives combined for 12 state medals to hang around their necks. Busboom claimed four top-eight finishes in the Nebraska Cornhuskers' pool, while Meyer and Schroeter earned three apiece and Jacob Hanson claimed two.
Overall, the FHS girls finished seventh behind state champion Omaha Westside. Coach David Struble's Tiger boys were 13th behind first-place Omaha Creighton Prep, too.
Meyer, Schroeter and Busboom's top finish all came in the same race — the 400 free relay. They didn't break their own record Saturday, but they did take fourth in 3:36.56.
Meyer, a four-time state qualifying senior, said she enjoys her time working together on relays.
“You can goof around behind the blocks,” she said, smiling. “We just have fun, so it really helps. It's a 'you're not nervous, you're excited' kind of thing.”
On Friday, the multi-sport AHS athlete — who'll attend Nebraska Wesleyan to swim next school year — said she knew the Tigers had a good chance to set the 400 relay record when Busboom took off on the second half of her swim before Buck finished off the race.
“Just her determination,” Meyer said when asked what makes Buck such a valuable teammate for relays. “She really pushes hard in everything she does.”
Buck pushed so hard that the Fremont swimmers were able to celebrate a record.
“That was really good,” Busboom said. “We were really happy about it. We've been thinking about those times for the whole season, so to see that we got it was really, really fun.”
Meyer, Schroeter and she also took seventh in the 200-yard medley relay with Charlotte Vech in 1:50.81 on Saturday, while Meyer teamed with Buck, Alexis Rasmussen and Vech for eighth in the 200 free relay. The latter quartet clocked in at 1:41.35.
Before earning two medals with his own Fremont relays, Hanson went up to an assistant coach during the warmup session Friday and asked if his technique looked correct. With confirmation, the Blair sophomore got back in line for a bit more prep.
Shortly thereafter, Hanson's 200 medley and 400 free relays with Elliot Vech, Zayne Keslar and Gabe Christ qualified for the finals. He also won a swim-off at the end of the prelim races to earn a consolation final attempt in the 100 breaststroke Saturday, which he turned into a 16th-place showing.
The Tiger boys' medley relay team ultimately earned sixth in 1:40.25, while the 400 relay squad was eighth in 3:18.75.
In addition to their relay work, Busboom and Schroeter earned individual medals on Saturday. Busboom won two, going 4-for-4 in her events overall.
The Blair junior secured sixth in the backstroke, finishing Saturday's race in 59.56 seconds. A day earlier, she logged a personal best time of 58.58 during prelims.
“I was really excited to see that time,” Busboom said. “I'm excited to go faster.”
She said the key to her swim was her “underwaters” improvement on turns.
“I was really focusing on trying to get as far as I can, and just having good tempo and building up speed,” Busboom said.
The swimmer also secured a sixth-place result in the 100 freestyle Saturday, clocking in at 53.24.
Schroeter, meanwhile, was sixth in the 100-yard butterfly race. She finished it in 58.59 after bettering her own school record during the prelims. The new best time at FHS is 58.4 seconds, which led to fist-pumping coaches poolside.
“That was a really good swim,” Schroeter said. “I'm proud of how it went.”
She, too, credited her new career-best to underwater practice.
“I've been working on those for the past two weeks really well,” Schroeter said. “We did a lot more sprint work with my fly this year, so I think that helped a lot, too.”
AHS junior makes state debut
While he didn't leave Lincoln with a medal, Arlington junior Dathan Hansen made his state debut Friday, too.
Before the 200-yard free relay with Hanson, Micah Moore and Garrett Nielsen, he said he was feeling good about it. Not nervous, “mostly excited.”
In the end, the Fremont team took 18th out of the 31 competing, clocking in at 1:32.74.
Arlington swimmer wins Special Olympics race
AHS junior Malory Rollins earned a three-peat Friday, winning her third-straight Special Olympics 50-yard freestyle race during the NSAA Championships in Lincoln.
Representing the Fremont Tigers, the swimmer earned first with a time of 38.32 seconds, which was a 0.17-second improvement of her time from her second-straight title last year.
“(Malory's) always just the one going all out,” fellow Arlington Tiger Lizzie Meyer said. “She has no worry about, 'Oh, is this going to hurt?' She doesn't care. She's just going to go out and give 100 percent no matter what.”
Rollins won Friday's race by more than 4 seconds, topping second-place Addison Davis and Camille Muse of Omaha Westside, Lincoln East's Aubrey Wagner and Madison Wiiest of McCook.
“Malory is such a great person,” Meyer said. “She's so kind.”
NSAA SWIMMING & DIVING STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday-Saturday at Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln
ARLINGTON/BLAIR RESULTS
Swimming Prelims — Friday
Girls
200-yard medley relay: 6, Fremont (Jane Busboom, Charlotte Vech, Ryleigh Schroeter, Lizzie Meyer), 1:51.36.
200 freestyle: 9, Schroeter, 1:55.9.
50 freestyle: 16, Meyer, 25.17.
100 butterfly: 5, Schroeter, 58.4.
100 freestyle: 7, Busboom, 53.69.
200 free relay: 6, FHS (Madelyn Buck, Meyer, Alexis Rasmussen, Vech), 1:40.61.
100 backstroke: 6, Busboom, 58.58.
400 free relay: 2, FHS (Schroeter, Meyer, Busboom, Buck), 3:35.72.
Boys
200 medley relay: 5, FHS (Elliot Vech, Jacob Hanson, Zayne Keslar, Gabe Christ), 1:38.54.
200 free relay: 18, FHS (Hanson, Micah Moore, Garrett Nielsen, Dathan Hansen), 1:32.74.
100 breaststroke: 16, Hanson, 1:02.65.
400 free relay: 6, FHS (Vech, Keslar, Hanson, Christ), 3:17.8.
Swimming Finals — Saturday
Girls
200 medley relay: 7, FHS (Busboom, Vech, Schroeter, Meyer), 1:50.81.
200 freestyle: 9, Schroeter, 1:55.59.
50 freestyle: 15, Meyer, 25.1.
100 butterfly: 6, Schroeter, 58.59.
100 freestyle: 6, Busboom, 53.24.
200 free relay: 8, FHS (Buck, Meyer, Rasmussen, Vech), 1:41.35.
100 backstroke: 6, Busboom, 59.56.
400 free relay: 4, FHS (Schroeter, Meyer, Busboom, Buck), 3:36.56.
Boys
200 medley relay: 6, FHS (Vech, Hanson, Keslar, Christ), 1:40.25.
100 breaststroke: 16, Hanson, 1:03.12.
400 free relay: 8, FHS (Vech, Keslar, Hanson, Christ), 3:18.75.
