Jenks error boosts Norman North title hopes
James Poling
Norman North boys needs all the scoring help it can get to reclaim the statetitle.
It already has received a major favor from its biggest rival.
Jenks’ boys 200-yard freestyle relay, after two of the four relay swimmers jumped early, was disqualified at the Class 6A east regional on Feb. 4. Therefore the relay team, which would have been the top seed this Friday and Saturday at the state championship meet, is not eligible.
Why does this matter? Relay points are worth double, and Jenks lost an opportunity to score a critical 40 points. Plus, Norman North moved into the top seed in the event, which would give it an additional six points.
Norman North still has work to do. Jenks, which is swimming at its home pool, is still projected to win by 20 points. Jenks will also switch some of its top swimmers from the 200-freestyle relay, including star freshman sprinter Andrew Truong and junior Jon Jin, to its 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays.
“It doesn’t change our approach,” Norman North coach Kent Nicholson said. “We have to take care of our own stuff. It opened the door a bit, but Jenks remains a deep team that will be difficult to overcome.”
But a 46-point swing from the disqualified relay team has raised the stakes. If Norman North can have one or two ofits consolation finals swimmers move ahead of Jenks’ swimmers, it will bring the state championship trophy back to Norman.
This squad is in position to win almost every event sans the 500-yard freestyle. Senior James Dyer is the defending 100-yard backstroke champion. Junior Alex Stamatin, who swam a blistering sub-55 second 100-yard breaststroke last fall at a USA Swimming competition, could break the state record. But where will it make up the additional points needed to overtake Jenks?
The host might be down a relay team, but it reclaims points in the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke. With Jon Jin likely moving to the 400-yard freestyle relay, which is the meet’s final race, the race could be a down-to-the-wire finish between the two title contenders for the event win and
ultimately the championship.
If this was a presidential election, Bartlesville girls would be Oklahoma for the Republicans or California for the Democrats. We can’t call them champion yet, but once the meet starts it’s all but certain who is going to win. How good is this Bartlesvilles team? It is projected to outscore the combined points of Edmond North and Edmond Memorial, the two best teams from the west regional. With top-seeded swimmers across the board, such as juniors Kate Steward
and Greta Olsen.
From a team scoring perspective, Edmond Memorial and Edmond North will have a fantastic battle for second place. Memorial juniors Kellie Fischer and Katie Callahan are two of the best female swimmers in the state. With Bartlesville likely devouring most of the available points in the other individual events, Memorial has an opportunity to move ahead of North if Fischer and Callahan can win their events.
North had an impressive 14 girls swimmers qualify for the state meet. Junior Ryann James (5th in 100-yard freestyle, 6th in 50-yard freestyle is the highest-seeded North swimmer in an individual event, and a top-3 finish in the 50 is a possibility. Junior Emily Fry is another key swimmer who could have a fast meet.
This will be a fun race. Four swimmers are seeded within two seconds of each other, including the Class 6A’s top two breaststrokers (Stamatin and Bartlesville’s Aaron Keesling), and two distance freestyle specialists (Edmond Santa Fe’s Kade Knoch and Norman’s Caleb Sullivan). No lead at the halfway point will be safe with this much firepower in the race.
Norman North senior Claire Liu is the favorite to defend her title in the 50-yard freestyle, but she faces more competition in the 100 distance. Fischer is the top seed, and Jenks senior Nicole Molina will make this one of the closer finishes Saturday. Edmond North senior Matthew Townsend, who is one of the few remaining key swimmers from last season’s Class 6A championship team, is the top seed. Norman North’s Even Wagner, who finished 0.17 seconds behind Townsend at the Class 6A West regional, will challenge for the top spot.