Relay efforts lead county swimmers at state meet

Schroeter contributes to 4th-place finish, Meyer to 6th-place

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Freshman Jane Busboom was the first Fremont Tiger in the pool Friday to start the NSAA State Swimming & Diving Championships in Lincoln.
At the same time, she was the first Blair Bear of the schools' first-year co-op to compete at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
BHS graduate Drew Guinan last swam at state alongside Omaha Burke teammates in 2009. Thirteen years later, the Bears were back again.
“I was very nervous,” Busboom said. “But also really excited because it was the first race and the first get-off for our team.”
The Tiger pushed off the wall into her backstroke section of the 200-yard medley relay, kicking off Washington County's participation in the 2022 state meet. Ryleigh Schroeter, Lizzie Meyer, Cade Arnett and Special Olympics race-winner Malory Rollins followed from there.
Overall, the Fremont girls finished ninth in the team standings behind state champion Lincoln Southwest. The boys, meanwhile, were 15th behind the Silver Hawks.
The Tigers' Karsen Jesse earned her team's top individual finish — fourth in the 200-yard freestyle — while two relay teams also claimed top-6 finishes.
“Our relays are just crushing it this year,” said Meyer, an Arlington sophomore.
Both she and Schroeter contributed to a top relay finish each. The Blair freshman helped her 400 freestyle team take fourth Saturday with a time of 3:37.61. Madelyn Buck, Lucy Dillon, Jesse and she cut nearly 4 seconds from Friday's prelim race.
“For the first (race), I was more excited than nervous,” Schroeter said at the conclusion of her first day at state. “Once I got into the flow of it, it was fine.”
The BHS student-athlete also earned an 11th place, 1:58.59 finish in the 200 freestyle and an 11th place finish in the 100 backstroke.
“I'm not too happy about my backstroke,” she said before stopping the clock in 1:00.29 in Saturday's consolation finals. “I wanted to break a minute.”
Still, Schroeter enjoyed her first foray into high school swimming.
“I feel really good about everything else,” she said.
Meyer, meanwhile, was excited going into the finals of the 200-yard free relay, too. Her teammates — Jesse, Dillon and Buck — and she were also members of the lineup a year ago.
“Half of them are seniors, so you have to swim lights out,” the Arlington Eagle said. “They're not going to be here next year.”
So, the Tigers claimed sixth in 1:39.38, capitalizing on their experience.
Meyer also earned 17th in the individual 50 freestyle in 25.43 seconds, while her 55.97 100 free swim was good for 28th.
“All of my times today were just about my best times, if not my best,” Meyer said Friday.
On the boys' side, Arnett appeared calm and collected going into his first race of the state championships Friday. He sat alongside his teammates away form the pool before it came to compete.
As a result, the Arlington swimmer's 200-yard medley relay and freestyle relay teams each earned 10th. The medley squad finished in 1:39.57 on Saturday, while the freestyle lineup clocked in at 1:31.03.
Busboom, meanwhile, may have been nervous going into the Devaney Sports Center pool, but she was pleased getting out of it. Her 200 medley relay squad of Schroeter, Meyer and Grace Blick earned 11th in 1:52.39 after a 1:52.88 preliminary run.
“I did really good on my tempo, keeping my tempo up,” Busboom said of Friday's prelim efforts.
She did the same in her 100 backstroke race, claiming 27th in 1:03.3.
“It's really important (in the backstroke) because, if you can't get your tempo up, you kind of just feel dead in the middle of the race,” the BHS freshman said. “It's really important to start out fast and end fast.”
In the end, the Tigers left the state swimming meet a sum of their parts from Fremont, Arlington and Blair. Schroeter enjoyed the season.
“It's just a lot more fun,” she said. “It's just very exciting to be apart of this team.”

AHS freshman tops Special Olympics podium
Arlington High School swimmer Malory Rollins won a race at the NSAA State Swimming & Diving Championships in Lincoln.
The freshman finished her Special Olympics 50-yard freestyle swim in 42.75 seconds, earning first ahead of Fremont's Josie Saunders, who stopped the clock in 47.09.
Rollins was celebrated with cheers while she was in the pool and when she was announced atop the podium.
Omaha South's Alma Gonzalez-Celedon earned third in the freestyle race, while Grace Niemeyer of Hastings was fourth and Sage Dasher of Omaha South was fifth.

Fremont swimming