Buffs’ swimmers dominant again vs. WAC opponents

BUFFS ROUNDUP: Friday, Dec. 20, 2019

BOYS SWIMMING

The first few weeks of the 2019-20 swimming season has been a big positive experience for the Garden City High School Buffaloes’ boys team.

That was evident once again on Thursday, Dec. 19, when the Buffs rolled to a convincing triangular meet victory over Western Athletic Conference opponents Great Bend and Dodge City at the Garden City Family YMCA Pool.

The Buffs totaled 242 points in capturing eight first-place finishes among the 11 contested events and it was a sweet way to celebrate Senior Night as the Buffs honored five seniors for their contributions to the program — Nate Morren, Austin Hess, Peter Hall, Santiago Nunez and Lane Durst.

“This was with several mixed up relays caused by the illness to some of our swimmers,” head coach Brian Watkins said. “\

Headlining the efforts was Jeremiah Bunce, who swam a state qualifying time of 22.91 in the 50-yard freestyle.

“This was a really impressive swim considering most of the boys added times to their events,” Watkins said. “He also had an impressive (52.80) in the 100-yard free to PR and got a little bit closer to that automatic state qualifying time.”

Other first-place performances came from the 200-yard individual medley relay team of Esai Morales, Connor Cupp, Joel Contrarez and Kobe Otero, who clocked a 1:52.09.

Otero captured the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:16.04 while Cupp won the 100-yard butterfly in 57.86 seconds. The 200-yard free relay team of Bunce, Morales, Cupp and Devin Chappel took first with a mark of 1:38.22. Cupp also garnered the top spot in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10.29 while the 400-yard freestyle relay unit of Otero, Chappel, Bunce and Morales won with a time of 3:46.47.

“The boys know where they need to be and I think today was an eye opener for them,” Watkins said. “We haven’t had that quality practice that we have been looking for, but I think it will come. Having some time off from meets to focus on our weaknesses will help.”

The Buffs are idle until after the holiday break and will next compete on Jan. 9, 2020, at the Great Bend Invitational.

At GARDEN CITY
Team Scores: 1. Garden City, 242; 2. Great Bend, 179; 3. Dodge City, 157.
Individual Results
200IM relay: 1. (Morales, Cupp, Contrarez, Otero), 1:52.09; 200 free: 2. Chappel, 2:02.82; 200IM: 1. Otero, 2:16.04; 50 free: 1. Bunce, 22.91; 100 butterfly: 1. Cupp, 57.86; 100 free: 1. Bunce, 52.80;  500  free: 2. Chappel, 5:44.57; 200 free relay: 1. (Bunce, Morales, Cupp, Chappel), 1:38.22; 100 backstroke: 2. Otero, 1:01.42; 3. Morales, 1:06.11; 100 breaststroke: 1. Cupp, 1:10.29; 400 free relay: 1. (Otero, Chappel, Bunce, Morales), 3:46.47.