KEARNEY — The Bulldogs competed in the Class 1 State Championship last week. Kearney swam in only three entries, but performed well. They finished in 32nd place out of the 38 teams on Friday, Feb. 17. The most impressive performance came from the athlete that hasn’t shied away from heights this year.
Sophomore Anna Williams had her strongest meet of her young career. She finished in 10th place in the diving competition. Williams ended with 312 points, which put her in the top 10 out of the 32 divers that qualified.
Williams entered the state meet after winning the conference championship and breaking the school record for most points. This surprised Williams as it wasn’t a goal for the diver.
“I give all of the credit to my coach (Dave Robinson) for dealing with me and helping me to get to where I am,” the diver said. “I wasn’t that nervous actually, but after first cuts I started to get a little a nervous. When I finished in the top 10, it was very exciting.”
Entering state, Williams’ goal was to reach top 16 and make a spot as an all-state performer.
There to support Williams was the rest of the team that made the trip to St. Peters.
Kearney competed in two other events in the Class 1 State Championship. Senior Ruby Dunn, senior Jillian Bonderer, freshman Ava Gable and senior Claire Woehrman finished in 29th place in the 200-yard freestyle relay. They finished with a time of 1:50.64. The same group competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay, but they were disqualified for a false start.
The end of the season is here for the Bulldogs, but it was one filled with a ton of accomplishments.
The biggest one being a runners-up finish as a team in the conference title. For Williams, she hopes to win a state title in the diving competition, but the hard work is just beginning for her.
“I am planning on joining a club team this summer since this is only my first year competing,” she said. “My coach said that there may be a state championship in my future. So, that makes me really motivated to go in every day for practice and work hard.”
Sports Writer Liam Keating can be reached at sports@mycouriertribune.com, 389-6643 or @myctsports on Twitter.
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