Hays’ Sook, Coach Stein garner individual honors
For many of the Western Athletic Conference swimmers and teams, qualifying for state is a bonus as the sport is dominated by competitors from the Wichita and Kansas City areas.
So, the WAC championship, always conducted about a week ahead of state, becomes one of the priority events on the winter schedule.
Such is the case for the Garden City Buffaloes’ boys’ squad, who captured their third consecutive WAC crown despite winning only two events and didn’t qualify a single event for the Class 6A state meet.
Buffaloes’ first-year boys’ head coach Aleisha Stepp, making her first foray into high school swimming after an extensive background in club swimming, had to plan the season around peaking the team at the WAC.
Her plan was developed as the season unfolded, moving swimmers around to different events, searching for the right combinations to produce the most available points in a meet where depth often outweighs first-place finishes.
The plan worked to perfection for Stepp and the Buffaloes as they won their third consecutive WAC title on Feb. 13 with 390 points while Hays, the heir apparent, placed second with 346.5 points despite winning seven of the 11 events. The Buffs won just two, but they proved to be pivotal in the meet. Dodge City also won two events.
“I was more nervous about this meet than any meet I could ever remember,” said Stepp, whose background was in club swimming. “At an earlier meet, there was only about 16 points separating us from Hays, so I anticipated it would be close.”
Knowing that Hays’ relays and their sprint entrants were likely winners, Stepp searched for swimmers who could compete for second, third, fourth and fifth finishes.
“I just tried to make sure everyone was in their right events,” Stepp said. “The thing I couldn’t anticipate was not having Austin (Ackerman, out with an illness). Then, I realized I had Alec Keller entered in just one event. That was a concern.”
Still, the Buffs managed those runners-up and after finishes to counter the first-place points piled up by the Indians. The biggest turnabout came with four events remaining when Stepp balanced out her two teams in the 200-yard freestyle relay. That move paid off handsomely as they went 1-2 while Hays was third, and the point differential was huge, 58-24.
Stepp had expected Hays to insert their fastest swimmers in that relay, too, after winning the 200-yard medley and later the 400-yard freestyle relay.
“When we had that one, I felt much better and then we matched them in points in the 100 back before Ethan (Ackerman) won the 100 breaststroke,” Stepp said. “That was the clincher. I’m so proud of the boys because I was a new coach and I’m so happy for them. They did everything during the season I asked of them. There are so many differences between club and school swimming, it took some time to get used to those.”
WAC Coach of the Year — Tyler Stein, Hays
In a twist of irony, Hays’ coach, Tyler Stein, also was in his first year of coaching at the high school level and for his team’s effort was voted WAC Coach of the Year.
“It’s a little bittersweet feeling to be sure,” Stein said several days after the championship had concluded. “It was awesome for so many of the boys to take gold and for Marshall (Sook) to get Swimmer of the Year, so yes, it was a cool day.”
Stein, himself a former high school swimmer at Great Bend, was named the head coach only a couple of weeks before the December season began, so he had many of the same adjustments to coaching as did Stepp.
“It was a big learning experience,” Stein said. “The kids were awesome. They stuck with me and they got better every week.”
Stein said he moved swimmers around to different events to find the right combinations.
“I would just tell the kids to swim the event even if was not a favorite because I wanted to see what they can do,” Stein said.
Stein, who will take three relay teams and several individual entries to the Class 5A State meet, said the WAC provided a good final preparation for the state meet.
“The WAC championship certainly is an important event on the schedule, but we also see it as the stepping stone to bigger things,” Stein said.
The WAC has had boys’ swimming as a varsity sport for the Champions Cup competition since the 2016-17 school year. In the nine years, the Buffs have won six titles and Great Bend three. This year’s three-peat for the Buffs was the second time they have accomplished this.
WAC Swimmer of the Year — Marshall Sook, Hays, Sr.
Marshall Sook made a concerted decision about swimming in high school when he was in the seventh grade.
Starting with summer club events six years ago, Sook began careful planning, training extensively, studying the science of the sport.
All of his hard work has paid off the Hays senior, who won two individual events — 50-yard free style (23.95 secs) and the 100-yard freestyle (53.62 secs) and swam the freestyle leg on two winning relays (200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle) to earn WAC Swimmer of the Year honors.
“It was a good day for me and my teammates, but we just came up a little short against Garden City,” said Shook. “The award means a lot in my last year, but I’ll always wish we could have done a little more.”
Sook considers the sprints to be his specialty events and it shows as he also qualified for the Class 5A State meet in those events.
“You have to be really good when you’re making the turns and using the wall,” Sook said. “You can’t afford to get stuck. You’ve got to keep it (turn) tight and fast and put your body in a ball and have the right distance into the wall when making that turn. You don’t want to bend too much. Your hands and shoulders should feel your ears.”
With a limited roster of about 10 swimmers, the Hays contingent has focused on making their events the best possible and not worry too much about winning large meets.
“The WAC is one of those where we knew we had a chance to compete,” Sook said. “It’s always a big meet, but with swimming being as much individual as it is team, I thought we performed about as well as we could.”
Over his six years in the sport, Sook said he has learned many of the technical skills necessary to be successful.
“You just work hard to be the best possible swimmer,” Sook said. “Coach (Stein) really pushed us a lot, but we know about his background in swimming and we respect him a lot. We listen to him because he knows what he’s talking about. He challenged us with some of the toughest workouts, but it all got us prepared. He’s such a presence around the pool. Every week we lowered our times, so we knew that we would do well.”
Sook has not made any decisions about swimming at the college level, but leaves that open as a possibility.
“I’m open to it, but I want to go somewhere that I would be excited to swim,” Sook said.
On the academic side of his future, Sook said he’s undecided.
“I’m a little all over the place,” he said. “Maybe business, but also something in health care. I’;ve learned a lot about how the body works and moves.”
Class 5-1A State Swim Meet Notes:
Hays completed its season on Feb. 21-22 at the Class 5-1A State Swim Meet by placing 14th in the team standings with 39 points.
Marshall Sook, the WAC Swimmer of the Year, placed 13th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.14 seconds and then was 12th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.68 seconds.
Sook also swam on two relay teams for the Indians as they placed 11th in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:34.39 and then were ninth in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:30.50. His teammates were Cedric Durr, Karsen Flaska and Chase Zudina in both relays. The team’s time in the 400 free relay final would have placed them 7th in the A Final had they qualified on Friday for the top 8 teams.
Western Athletic Conference
Boys Swimming
Team Scores
1. Garden City, 390; 2. Hays, 346.5; 3. Dodge City, 246.5; 4. Great Bend, 176; 5. Liberal, 105.
All-WAC First Team (Winners of WAC Events)
| EVENT | NAME | SCHOOL | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200y medley relay | Karsen Flaska Noah Shaeffer Chase Zadina Marshall Sook | Hays | 1:53.22 |
| 200y freestyle | Easton Steiner | Dodge City | 2:05.98 |
| Chase Zadina | Hays | ||
| 200y individual medley | Karsen Flaska | Hays | 2:24.36 |
| 50y freestyle | Marshall Sook | Hays | 23.95 |
| 100y butterfly | Chase Zadina | Hays | 1:02.49 |
| 100y freestyle | Marshall Sook | Hays | 53.62 |
| 500y freestyle | Karsen Flaska, | Hays | 5:49.64 |
| 200y freestyle relay | Brayden Sneath Trevor Fry Dylan Martinez Dominic Mata | Garden City | 1:44.80 |
| 100y backstroke | Jacoby Sutton | Dodge City | 1:07.86 |
| 100y breaststroke | Ethan Ackerman | Garden City | 1:12.20 |
| 400y freestyle relay | Marshall Sook Cedric Durr Karsen Flaska Chase Zadina | Hays | 3:50.77 |
Coach of the Year – Tyler Stein, Hays
