Archive for Thursday, January 29, 2009

WyCo tune-up provides fast times

By Nick Bates

January 29, 2009

In the final tune-up before the Wyandotte County Invitational, the Bonner Springs swimming team traveled to Shawnee Mission West on Tuesday.

The Braves fell in the dual meet, 136-86, but swam well in many events.

Matt Bille and Ryan Holcomb each turned in solid performances for the Braves. Bille finished second in both the 50-yard and 100 freestyle. Despite battling illness, Holcomb grabbed a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke.

The Braves’ Tyler Dubin and Drew Hern tied for third in the 100 butterfly. Dubin was also the only Bonner swimmer to win an event when he turned in a solid time of 1 minute, 17.58 seconds in the 100 backstroke. Senior captain Alex Sullivan finished third in the 500 freestyle.

Freshman Nate Mitchell turned in a solid performance yet again with a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley and a runner-up finish in the 100 breaststroke.

“With this being a tune-up, we approached it differently than we would a bigger meet,” BSHS coach Lynn LaNoue said. “I’m still of the philosophy that guys need to swim every event they can to try to get them accustomed to as many styles as possible.”

Now the Braves set their sights on they Wyandotte County Invitational at 4 p.m. today at the Bonner Springs YMCA. They expect to perform very well in the meet, LaNoue said.  The meet will include BSHS, Washington and Turner.

“My goal is to take first and second in a majority of the individual events,” LaNoue said. “We should also be very well positioned in each of the relays, assuming nobody gets sick. This meet will allow us to measure up where we are at as we build for ILC (Independent League Championships) in a couple of weeks that will have a lot more schools involved.”

Sullivan also has some high expectations for Thursday.

“I think we will finally come together as a team and take home a bunch of medals and go for first place overall,” Sullivan said. “The Bonner spirit is (lifting us up) — you’ve always got to keep strong and have team faith.”

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