Girls-River Cities Conference Champions
Boys-River Cities Conference Runner-ups
Beatrice/Norris/Fairbury/Freeman girls swim team kept their winning streak alive Feb. 12 and 13th at Ralston High School. Their win comes behind an undefeated dual season. The boy’s team took second place, behind Skutt Catholic. A few weeks ago, we did not have a conference meet to compete in. Since Beatrice joined the Trailblazer conference, it left the swimming and diving program without a conference. We found this out a couple weeks ago. We were worried that our athletes would not be able to compete for the last time for state cuts. The Beatrice AD tried to find a conference meet for us to join. It took the coaches of the River Cities Conference to fight for our team to remain a part of the River Cities Conference for swimming and diving. Having coached for 25 years, our conference has always been at Ralston High School. The coaches and athletes from all teams are kind of like family, we look out for one another.
Each of them tried to convince their athletic directors to let us remain a River Cities Conference member for swimming. We cannot thank them enough for thinking not only of their own athletes, but of those of the Beatrice/Norris/Fairbury/Freeman swim and dive team. We are all each other’s competition, but what is important, is that the athletes are able to compete and qualify for state. And having 13 new state cuts at this meet, is proof that we needed to be at this conference meet! At this time of the season, we always worry, did we work hard enough in practice, did we work too hard, are we rested enough to compete well… I believe we accomplished all of these things that helped us this weekend.
It has been 18 years since we have taken home the girl’s championship trophy. There were always those strong teams, like Omaha Duschene, Skutt Catholic, and Ralston, that always seemed to pull away from us at the end of the meet. Today was different. Our athletes were determined to change that record. We were focused on finishing each race with a personal best performance. We are so proud of how they worked together as a team and supported each other. It has been 6 years since the boys have brought home the runner up trophy.
Each of the swimmers and divers, knew that every point they earned was one point closer to taking home the championship. This meet took everyone to do their best, which I believe we accomplished. Our captains, Mikwena Lierman, Bri Knothe, and Crystal Craft, along with many other team members were at the end of every race they were not competing in and cheering everyone on to do their best. We had 32 personal best performances, 13 state cut times and 36 top 6 finishes.
This season has been one of some ups and downs for the team, we have had to deal with weather, Covid, and personal struggles. But, through all that, they persevered. This group is one I will always cherish. I am also very lucky to have an amazing coaching staff to help with the team. Dina Sheele, has been a tremendous asset to this team for the past 8 years. She is knowledgeable and knows what we need to focus on to push and improve our swimmers. I was also lucky, in mid season, to hire another assistant coach. Former BNFF swimmer, state qualifier and former school record holder, Lexi (Arena) Ahrens, moved back to town and accepted the job. She has added a great deal to our team as well.
First place medal winners:
- Mikwena Lierman -50 freestyle
2nd place medal winners:
- Lily Davis – diving
- Girls 200 Medley relay: Josi Mans, Crystal Craft, Mikwena Lierman, Mikya Lierman
- Mikwena Lierman- 100 butterfly
- Josi Mans- 100 backstroke
- Girls 400 freestyle relay: Mikwena Lierman, Laci Havlat, Josi Mans, Mikya Lierman
- Boys 400 freestyle relay: Noah Pomajzl, Noah Bratt, Kolton Kirchhoff, Cole Rogge
3rd place medal winners:
- Camryn Wisneiski- diving
- Mikya Lierman- 100 freestyle and 100 freestyle
- Cole Rogge- 100 backstroke
4th place finishes:
- Boys Medley relay: Ian Scheele, Reed Mueller, Cole Rogge, Isaiah Jacobsen
6th place finishes;
- Josi Mans- 100 freestyle
- Cole Rogge- 200 freestyle
State qualifying times:
- Mikwena Lierman had an automatic state qualifying time in the 100 freestyle and improved her secondary time in the 100 butterfly
- Josi Mans had a secondary state qualifying time in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke
- Mikya Lierman had a secondary state time in the 100 freestyle
- Lily Davis improved her state diving qualifying score
- Girls 200 Medley relay had an automatic state qualifying time; Josi Mans, Crystal Craft, Mikwena Lierman, Mikya Lierman
- Boys 200 Medley relay had a secondary state qualifying time: Ian Scheele, Reed Mueller, Cole Rogge, Isaiah Jacobsen
- Girls 400 free relay had an automatic time; Mikwena Lierman, Laci Havlat, Josi Mans, Mikya Lierman
Personal Best Performances
- Lily Davis- Diving
- Cole Rogge- 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke
- Mikya Lierman- 100 freestyle
- Josi Mans- 100 freestyle- 100 backstroke
- Mikwena Lierman – 100 freestyle
We will have quite a few state swimmers and divers this year. We can’t wait to see what they all will accomplish that the state meet. State is Feb. 25-diving, Feb. 26 swimming prelims, Feb. 27 swimming finals.
Fairbury State Swimming and Diving qualifiers
- Lily Davis, Freshman-Diving
- Camryn Wisnieski , Senior-Diving
- Mkwena Lierman, Senior-50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, and 400 freestyle relay
- Josi Mans, Senior-100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay
- Mikya Lierman, Sophomore-50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay
- Cole Rogge, Freshman- Alternate: 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay
