Posted by Matt Wenzel, News
AdvocateMANISTEE — Anna
Kutschke was swimming with an injured knee, but certainly
didn’t show it.
The Manistee sophomore posted a
Division 3 state finals time in the 50-yard freestyle on
Thursday, becoming the Chippewas’ first individual qualifier
of the season.
“I’m really happy about it,”
said Kutschke, who strained a ligament in her right knee
practicing the breaststroke, but didn’t let it affect her.
“I try not to let it.”
Kutschke’s performance was one
of a number of highlights for the Chippewas, who beat
Hudsonville Unity Christian, 113-73.
“We’re tickled to death,” said
Manistee coach Corey Van Fleet. “We’ve got a whole bunch of
beginners that are just starting and it’s exciting to see
them go and it’s exciting to see some of the old gang make
some nice drops.”
Those drops came after a full
week off from competition after Manistee opened the season
with back-to-back meets in each of its first two weeks.
“It’s pretty hard on everybody,”
Kutschke said, “because sometimes we come home late and we
have to get up bright and early the next day and work out in
the morning.”
And those practices can make
meets seem like a night off.
“They all think they’re tired,”
Van Fleet said with a smile. “We went almost 7,000 yards
yesterday — everybody. I gave them five minutes off at the
end because we had a meet today.”
Manistee won nine of the 12
events Thursday and Kutschke was part of all three winning
relays — the 200-yard medley relay with Sara Wehrmeister,
Jessica Gustad and Syriah Dobis; the 200 freestyle relay
with Maddy Applegarth, Valerie Urban and Molly Morang; and
the 400 freestyle relay with Gustad, Urban and Dobis.
Individually, Taylor Antal led
the Chippewas with a pair of first-places finishes as she
won the 200 and 500 freestyles. The junior also posted
impressive drops in both events, shaving more than two
seconds off in the 200 (2:13.30) and almost a dozen seconds
off in the 500 to shatter her old school-record time for a
5:54.99 finish.
“That’s a fantastic swim,” Van
Fleet said.
Manistee’s Caroline
Kessler took second in diving. (Matt Wenzel/News
Advocate)
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Manistee’s Taylor Antal swims
to a win in the 200-yard freestyle during Thursday’s victory against
Hudsonville Unity Christian at the Paine Aquatic Center. (Matt
Wenzel/News Advocate)
Dobis won the 100 butterfly, Urban took
first in the 200 individual medley and Applegarth won an exciting 100
freestyle with a personal-best time.
Thursday’s win was the 17th straight
dual-meet victory for the Chippewas, who haven’t lost a meet since 2011.
“That’s great,” Van Fleet said. “We’ve got a
couple more next week and then we’ll go up against a brick wall.”
Manistee hosts Traverse City and Ludington
next week before a double dual against perennial powers East Grand
Rapids and Grand Rapids Christian.
“You’ve got to get off the focus of the dual
meet,” Van Fleet said. “That’s why we moved a lot of kids around the
last two weeks and made them swim things they don’t normally swim
because we’re trying to build a whole team rather than two or three
people that can win dual meets.”
Manistee results
200-yard medley relay — 1,
Wehrmeister, Gustad, Dobis, Kutschke, 2:02.98; 4, Sinead McCann,
Applegarth, Hannah Harland, Meghan McComb, 2:17.24; 5, Sarah Chandler,
Molly Morang, Shelby Flanagan, Taler Bohannon, 2:25.50.
200-yard freestyle — 1, Antal,
2:13.30; 2, Allie Zimmerman, 2:18.02; 5, Jordan Bartynski, 2:28.17.
200-yard individual medley —
1, Urban, 2:31.93; 2, Dobis, 2:35.96; 4, Kiara Bromley, 2:45.76.
50-yard freestyle — 1,
Kutschke, 25.82; 2, Gustad, 26.66; 6, McComb, 29.45.
1-meter diving — 2, Caroline
Kessler, 173.20; 4, Lillie Edwards, 157.20.
100-yard butterfly — 1, Dobis,
1:09.10; 2, Kiara Bromley, 1:14.35; 3, Flanagan, 1:21.16.
100-yard freestyle — 1,
Applegarth, 1:01.00; 3, Urban, 1:02.16; 6, Riley Wrzesinski, 1:13.03.
500-yard freestyle — 1, Antal,
5:54.99; 2, Zimmerman, 6:13.35; 3, Harland, 6:20.69.
200-yard freestyle relay — 1,
Applegarth, Kutschke, Urban, Morang, 1:54.17; 4, Flanagan, Bohannon, Wrzesinski,
Lauren Golembiewski, 2:09.41; 6, Hannah Gutowski, Sierra Wright, Paige
Picardat, Helena Chrois, 2:35.47.
100-yard backstroke — 2,
Wehrmeister, 1:10.82; 3, Gustad, 1:12.95; 5, McCann, 1:18.36.
100-yard breaststroke — 2,
Applegarth, 1:21.50; 5, Morang, 1:28.15; 6, Laura Kane, 1:31.82.
400-yard freestyle relay — 1,
Kutschke, Gustad, Urban, Dobis, 4:04.19; 3, Wehrmeister, Antal,
Zimmerman, Kiara Bromley, 4:18.24; 4, Chandler, McComb, Bartynski,
Bohannon, 4:42.84. |