By RANDY GONZALES
rgonzales@dailynews.net
It was the Monarchs' meet, but the Indians' Amanda Groff made the biggest splash.
Groff, a former standout youth swimmer in her first season with the Hays High School girls' swim team, had another good day for the Indians.
"Amanda had two more state-qualifying times, a couple of first places," Hays High coach Chris Channell said, "swam real well as a team today."
Hays High took first in the team standings with 478 points. Junction City was second with 337, Wichita-Independent was third with 277, Thomas More Prep-Marian was fourth with 159 and Wichita-Collegiate was fifth with 64.
Groff, a senior who opted to play softball in the spring her first three seasons at HHS, was allowed to play both softball and swim this spring. Groff has qualified for state in all six individual events she has entered this season.
"Just shows she was very talented in swimming, and could have done some marvelous things at Hays High," Channell said. "We're going to check, she's coming real close to setting the school record on the 100 breaststroke.
"There's a couple other events we're looking at targeting for a school record by the end of the year," he added.
On Tuesday at the TMP-Marian Invitational at the Fort Hays State University pool, Groff won the 100 breaststroke in one minute, 14.30 seconds, took second in the 200-yard freestyle and was part of the first-place 200 free relay (1:58.14) and second-place 200 medley relay. She qualified for state Tuesday in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.
Channell said Groff puts in the time to make it work in both sports.
"She puts in a lot of hours," Channell said. "She swims in the morning, softball in the afternoon. She has to organize her schedule and away softball games and swimming.
"I thank (HHS softball) coach (Abby) Maska for giving Amanda the opportunity to do this, because she is a heck of an athlete," he added.
Joining Groff on the first-place 200 free relay were senior Tarryn Andrews, junior Abbey Homburg and freshman Courtney Hess. HHS also took second in the 200 free relay (juniors Lindsay Mattison, Jordan Capo and Emily Bond and sophomore Madison Jones). Groff, Andrews, Homburg and Hess also were on the runner-up 200 medley relay.
Homburg finished second in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, while Groff and junior Mattison went 2-3 in the 200 free. Andrews and Hess went 2-3 in the 100 free. Freshman Jessica Carreira took third in the 100 backstroke.
Hays High and TMP-Marian went 2-3 in the 400 free relay. Swimming for HHS were Jordan Capo, junior Kelsey Capo, sophomore Rebekah Moritz and Carreira. TMP-Marian had sophomores Beth Channell, Laura Braun and Hollie Herbel and freshman Maria Marcotte in that relay.
The Monarchs also took third in the 200 medley relay (Channell, Marcotte, Herbel and senior Anne Drees).
Individually for the Monarchs, Channell won the 500 freestyle in 6:49.39 and took third in the 50 free. Herbel took third in the 200 IM and Marcotte also was third in the 100 breaststroke.
First-year TMP-Marian coach David Adams -- a former swimmer at Hays High -- liked what he saw out of his team.
"I saw some of the times today, and I was thinking how is that possible," Adams said.
Adams also liked having a home meet.
"It's a really nice feeling, because it means we have the advantage of our own pool; we know how the water works," Adams said.
"It's the pool we practice at. You can't get much better than that."
