Hays’ Schmidt grabs elusive Swimmer of Year award
When the spring girls’ swimming season is about to begin, Garden City head coach Jennifer Meng begins a season-long evaluation process of which events she wants to place her swimmers in when the Western Athletic Conference championship is held near the end of the campaign.
This year, Meng’s plan was, as she says, mostly on instinct and not on any data that could be evaluated. The simple reason? She didn’t know what events other coaches would place their best swimmers in, so it’s a little like playing chess without all the pieces.
Meng, though, made all the right calls this time around as the Lady Buffs repeated their 2024 title with 557 points to narrowly out-point Hays’ talented squad, which finished with 509. Great Bend was a distant third with 367 points, Liberal fourth with 251 and Dodge City fifth with 229.
“This year, I had no idea where anyone else was going to enter their swimmers, so you just make a good estimate and hope for the best,” Meng said of her strategy. “Our girls had swum a variety of events throughout the season, so we knew we had some fast girls in different events, so the final decision was really just putting them in events where we thought they would score the most points.”
One of the biggest boosts to the Buffs’ title came in the 500-yard freestyle where Brylee West, Jencie Stocking and Saida Ramos went 1-2-3 to score 53 points for the team.
“That was a big victory for us,” Coach Meng said. “We just didn’t know if a sweep was possible, but the girls all swam well.”
The Lady Buffs claimed four event titles, all individually. Sophomore Livi Meng won the 50-yard freestyle with a personal best of 26.19 seconds and took second to WAC Swimmer of the Year Izabel Schmidt of Hays in th e100-yard freestyle despite another PR time of 58.82.
Riley Sekavec claimed a gold medal in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:08.97, nearly five seconds faster than her previous mark. Freshman Ellie Sekavec took the 200-yard individual medley in 2:38.70, cutting 11 seconds off her best mark. Ramos finished second in that event.
The depth of the Lady Buffs showed in the 100-yard butterfly where they placed second, third and fifth and did the same in the 100-yard backstroke with a different set of swimmers. In all, the Buffs won four events, placed second in nine, finished third in three, two in fourth and five in fifth. That produced the core of the team’s scoring.
Perhaps the most telling stat came in the three relays where the Buffs finished second and fourth in the 200-yard medley and in the 200-yard freestyle, both coming up short against the speedy Hays squad. In the 400-yard freestyle relay they placed second and sixth.
“We swam great times, but Hays has two of the best swimmers, so I was happy to see our times,” Coach Meng said. “All in all, it was a great effort by the girls and I’m super proud of their hard work and to see it pay off was really a lot of fun.”
Hays’ Izabel Schmidt finally takes WAC Swimmer of Year honor
It had been a long wait for Hays’ Izabel Schmidt at the WAC Championships.
For three years, Schmidt had won her individual races but could not get enough points in the relays to finish first in the individual points race that determines the Swimmer of the Year.
But that all changed on May 15 when she won her two individual events — the 100-yard freestyle in 54.78 seconds and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:11.13 and then swam the third leg of the winning 200-yard medley when she swam the butterfly and helped the Lady Indians just nudge rival Garden City by .48 of a second. She capped off her Swimmer of the Year performance by swimming the second leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay with a split of 24.18 for her 50-yard sprint.
“It was exciting when I heard my name announced,” said Schmidt, a senior who will be going to St. Louis University next fall and plans to swim for that school while pursuing a pre-med degree. “I’ve won the individual events but not the relays and when we won those I thought I might have a chance so I am appreciative of the coaches who voted for me.”
Schmidt ranks among the top Class 5A swimmers in multiple events, but when the state meet rolls around she is limited to two individual events along with two relays. Incredibly, she has qualified times for state in seven individual events, but can only swim the two.
“I like the different aspects of each stroke, but the free is what I’m best at,” Schmidt said. “I’ve always been okay with the (butter) fly and the breast is the one I’ve had to train and work the hardest. The fly just came easier.”
She is most proud of her time in the breaststroke, having reduced her fastest mark by more than five seconds.
“Cutting that much time from my junior to senior years just doesn’t happen all that often,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt began her swimming at age 9 while she was involved with multiple sports. But she also realized at an early age that swimming was where she excelled the most and provided her with the most validation.
“When it came to my high school years, I made a commitment to the Wichita Swim Club so I decided not to compete in other high school sports,” Schmidt said. “I knew I wanted to swim college so the Wichita Swim Club became an important decision for me.”
Her fastest times in the individual events reflect just how skilled she is in each race.
Her fastest time in the 50-yard free is 24.06; it’s 53.01 in the 100-yard freestyle; she has posted a 1:01.58 in the 100-yard butterfly; a 1:11.13 in the 100-yard breaststroke; a 1:06.00 in the 100-yard backstroke; a 2:01.26 in the 200-yard freestyle and then has a best of 2:19.58 in the 200-yard individual medley where she swims all four strokes.
“I just sometimes raced in the other events for a change of pace and to see how I could do in those,” Schmidt said of her variety of times in the seven events. “It’s been kind of fun to do different ones but then when it comes to WAC and state, I go to the races where I can do the best.”
Western Athletic Conference
Girls Swimming/All-WAC First Team
- 200 Medley Relay: Hays (Hughes, Wahlmeier, Schmidt, Tippy)
- 200 Freestyle: Riley Sekavec (Garden City)
- 200 IM: Ellie Sekavec (Garden City)
- 50 Freestyle: Livi Meng (Garden City)
- 100 Butterfly: Jaylen Hughes (Hays)
- 100 Freestyle: Izabel Schmidt (Hays)
- 500 Freestyle: Brylee West (Garden City)
- 200 Freestyle Relay: Hays (Tippy, Schmidt, Wahlmeier, Hughes)
- 100 Backstroke: Jaylen Hughes (Hays)
- 100 Breaststroke: Izabel Schmidt (Hays)
- 400 Freestyle Relay: Great Bend (Feist, Carper, Gregg, Mazouch)
Outstanding Swimmer: Izabel Schmidt, Hays
Coach of the Year: Tyler Stein, Hays
