Four Lawton Public Schools swimmers have punched their ticket to the OSSAA State Swim Meet in Edmond, Okla., after great performances at last weekend’s regional races.
MacArthur High School’s Rohan Mariano (SR) and Mikaya Norton (JR), Eisenhower High School senior Charles Hinton, and Lawton High School junior Edan Kaiser have qualified for the State meet.
For the Highlanders, Mariano put a pair of top-5 finishes on his resume to qualify in not one, but two events for the State meet. The 4-time State qualifier finished second in the 500-yard freestyle, posting a time of 4:56.64 in the finals. Mariano followed that up with a third place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:02.11. A trio of Highlanders competed in the 50-yard freestyle, with junior Evan Raynor leading the way with a time of 26.61 in 31st place and senior Joe Martinez and sophomore Jaylin Esley just a few seconds behind. Esley also swam a time of 1:10.52 in the 100-yard free and Raynor finished 23rd with a time of 1:23.18 in the 100-yard breaststroke. The quartet of MHS swimmers also placed 12th in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 10th in the 400 free relay.
For the Lady Highlanders, Norton qualified for State for the second time, finishing 11th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:17.70. She also added a 14th place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a finish of 2:37.47. Senior Natalie Buchko placed 35th in the 50 free and 45th in the 100 free, while sophomore Emmalee Powell-Krueger finished 21st in the 100-yard butterfly and 33rd in the 100 backstroke.
Hinton was Eisenhower’s lone qualifier for the 6A State meet, earning his spot in the 100-yard freestyle. He came in with a time of 52.83 in the final to finish 15th and also finished 13th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:12.35; freshman Eliyas Holstine also competed in the 100 freestyle and finished with a time 1:28.74 and and then swam a time of 36.73 in the 50 free. Junior Kaitlyn Holder put up a strong time of 1:13.57 in the 100-yard backstroke and placed 13th and then followed that with a 16th place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:50.01. Hope Cho also competed for the Eagles, finishing with a time of 1:26.24 in the 100 free and 36.86 in the 50.
Kaiser, who is a first-year swimmer, was one of two Wolverines to compete at the 5A West Regional in Edmond last week. The junior competed in both the 100-yard freestyle and the 50-yard freestyle. Kaiser qualified for State in the 50 by posting a time of 25.96 in the finals, placing 11th in a loaded field. He also finished 16th in the 100 with a time of 1:01.24, but just missed qualifying for the big race in that event. Freshman Kaelyn Tranchitello also competed for LHS, finishing 27th in the 50-yard freestyle and 28th in the 100-yard freestyle.
Full results from the regional and state meets can be found on the OSSAA website. The 5A and 6A State Championship Meets will be held Feb. 20-21 in Edmond, Okla. at the Mitch Park YMCA.