Gerrard Diaz, gdiaz@shawanoleader.com
Leader Photo by Gerrard Diaz Shawano Community High School swimmer Zach Soper swims the 200-yard freestyle at a meet with Lakeland Union on Thursday in Shawano.
The Shawano Community High School boys swim team got a first-place finish in the final event to defeat Lakeland Union 88-82 Thursday in Shawano.
The Hawks led 80-76 heading into the 400-yard freestyle relay. Eight points would go to the winner, four to the runner-up and two to the third-place finisher.
After Shawano fell behind by about a half a second in the first two legs, junior Jake Klister built a lead against Lakeland Union junior Nate Kellner. The small lead was more than enough for junior Zach Soper, who finished about 4 seconds ahead of Nick Garcia.
Shawano finished in 3:37.49, Lakeland Union in 3:41.55.
“It’s exciting, the whole meet was exciting,” Shawano coach Walberto Colon said. “The kids were ready for it. You could see their eyes shining. They were just ready to race.”
Aware that the last event would decide the meet, Colon told his swimmers to concentrate on fundamentals.
“Everything is about fundamentals,” he said. “Have a good team effort, cheer each other on and be sure that everybody is pushing each other and helping each other out, working as a team. It’s not about the score.”
Soper also won the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
Griffin Rades, a freshman, won the 200 individual medley. Rolando Colon won the 500 freestyle, and Christian Kane won the 100 breaststroke. The Shawano 200 medley relay team of Rades, Kane, Soper and Klister won the event with a time of 1:50.94.
“Everybody stepped up,” Colon said. “The kids did well, and I say well because our kids want to win conference. That is their goal.”
Shawano results
200 freestyle: 2. Adrian Tetting, 2:08.57; 3. Rolando Colon, 2:10.13
200 individual medley: 1. Griffin Rades, 2:19.26; 2. Christian Kane, 2:25.59
50 freestyle: 1. Zach Soper, 22.41; 3. Jake Klister, 25.05
100 butterfly: 1. Zach Soper, 55.13; 3. Alex Retzlaff, 1:09.85
100 freestyle: 3. Jake Klister, 58.86
500 freestyle: 1. Rolando Colon, 6:02.61
100 backstroke: 2. Griffin Rades, 1:04.43; 3. Adrian Tetting, 1:08.77
100 breaststroke: 1. Christian Kane, 1:13.22
200 medley relay: 1. Shawano (Griffin Rades, Christian Kane, Zach Soper, Jake Klister), 1:50.94; 3. Shawano (Craig Kraning, Jason Wynos, Alex Retzlaff, Nathan Kane), 2:13.44
200 freestyle relay: 2. Shawano (Adrian Tetting, Griffin Rades, Craig Kraning, Christian Kane), 1:46.13; 3. Shawano (Austin Lholka, Nathan Kane, Cayman Kunschke, Rolando Colon), 1:58.51
400 freestyle relay: 1. Shawano (Adrian Tetting, Rolando Colon, Jake Klister, Zach Soper), 3:37.49