By Terry Douglass
terry.douglass@theindependent.com

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For The Independent/Scott Bruhn Grand Island's Ariel Lahowetz swims during the girls 100-yard backstroke preliminaries Friday at the state swim meet in Lincoln. Lahowetz earned a spot in today's finals by finishing sixth with a time of 1 minute, 2.03 seconds. For The Independent/Scott Bruhn Grand Island's Davin Jameson swims in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries Friday at the Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln. Jameson will compete in the consolation finals today after finishing with a time of 1 minute, 3.84 seconds. Click Thumbnails to View

The low-key Lahowetz put her inner fire on display Friday in the Nebraska state high school swimming and diving meet. She earned a spot in Saturday's championship finals by finishing sixth in the 100-yard backstroke preliminaries in a time of 1 minute, 2.03 seconds.

By holding on to her sixth-place state ranking, Lahowetz is guaranteed a state meet medal and will now attempt to become the first Grand Island swimmer to win a state title since 1976. The senior is the program's first state medallists since 2006 when Anne Rittmueller placed fourth in the 500 freestyle

"I'm pretty happy and excited," Lahowetz said. "I am fired up about it, but I don't ever really get too nervous about anything. I think it helps me."

Jensen agreed.

"Ariel is not very demonstrative, but inwardly, I think she's pretty pumped and excited," Jensen said. "She knows what it's going to take Saturday and her approach has served her well all four years.

"The state meet can be a little overwhelming, especially if you've never been there before, but it has never really bothered Ariel. She always stays fairly even-keeled."

Lahowetz will be in lane eight in the 100 backstroke championship finals. NET will televise Saturday's finals from the Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln with coverage starting at noon.

Omaha Marian senior Emily Franks posted the top preliminary time in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 59.75 seconds. Jensen said he thinks Lahowetz possesses the ability to improve upon her sixth-place preliminary time.

"There are quite a few swimmers that are not very far apart and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ariel drop a couple of seconds," Jensen said. "That would be pretty amazing, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

"If she starts real well and her turns go real well, anything could happen."

Lahowetz said she thinks her event is fairly wide open and that improvement is definitely possible. Her seed time coming into the state meet was 1:01.86.

"I was happy with how I swam today," Lahowetz said. "Obviously, I'll try even harder (Saturday) to see if I can get an even better place. If not, I'll still be happy."

Jensen said he's thrilled to see Lahowetz earn a state medal.

"Ariel just missed by a slim margin last year, so we were really happy that she was able to get in that top six and get a medal this year," Jensen said. "She certainly deserves it. She's worked very hard for all four years and put a lot of extra effort in.

"She's done about everything possible to get to this place, so that's great."

Lahowetz will be joined by two of her teammates in Saturday's competition. Grand Island's Davin Jameson (100 breaststroke) and Miranda Vlach-Buller (500 freestyle) both qualified for the consolation finals with top-12 finishes.

Jameson entered the state meet ranked fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.49. However, the senior's time of 1:03.84 in the prelims left him in 12th place.

Jensen said the 100 breaststroke was an extremely loaded event this year with 29 swimmers making it to Lincoln with automatic state qualifying times.

"It was a tough field and there were probably only three or four seconds separating the entire field," Jensen said. "So there wasn't a lot of room for error in the event and Davin just went out a little slower than we were hoping.

"It was just too much to make up, but we were happy he could come back and swim the second day."

Grand Island freshman Miranda Vlach-Buller earned a spot in the consolation finals in the 500 freestyle, finishing 12th in a time of 5:28.45. Her seed time was 5:28.27.

"Miranda performed very well for a freshman and that's a good sign for years to come," Jensen said. "She might have also done better in her 200 (freestyle), but she was very nervous. The first time at state can be a very overwhelming experience."

Overall, it was a tough day for Grand Island swimmers as they managed to improve upon their seed times in one of 12 events. Only Jameson, who finished 15th in the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:06.99, was able to better his previous season best (2:07.74).

Jensen said inexperience was a factor and that it's sometimes difficult for young athletes, especially first-time state qualifiers, to realize how hard they have to train to be competitive at the state meet.

"We're really proud of the way the kids swam this year," Jensen said. "I know that a lot of them they're really disappointed about how they swam at state, but I told them they can't base their whole season on one meet.

"It's great if you can do well at state, but the fact that you got there and you gave it your best shot, that's worth something, too."

State Swimming

Friday's Preliminaries

At Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln

BOYS

200 medley relay 17, Hastings (John Zoucha, Charles Lainson, Christopher Smolik, Samuel Zoucha), 1:49.60.

50 freestyle 21, Samuel Zoucha, Hastings, 22.84.

100 freestyle 15, Samuel Zoucha, Hastings, 50.30.

200 individual medley 15, Davin Jameson, Grand Island, 2:06.99.

100 breaststroke 12, Davin Jameson, Grand Island, 1:03.84.

200 freestyle relay 21, Hastings (Charles Lainson, John Zoucha, Christopher Smolik, Gavin Raitt), 1:37.02.

400 freestyle relay 16, Hastings (Samuel Zoucha, John Zoucha, Charles Lainson, Christopher Smolik), 3:31.47. 23, Grand Island (Noland Forsythe, Davin Jameson, Joshua Rapp, Joshua Jacobsen), 3:43.66.

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GIRLS

200 medley relay 20, Grand Island (Ariel Lahowetz, Kari Mettenbrink, Alyson Hartwig, Morgan Hibbs), 2:01.18. 24, Hastings (Jaimie Fast, Julie McCarthy, Lauren Fast, Alice Welch), 2:05.50.

200 freestyle 22, Miranda Vlach-Buller, Grand Island, 2:03.95.

50 freestyle 24, Morgan Hibbs, Grand Island, 26.63.

100 butterfly 25, Alyson Hartwig, Grand Island, 1:07.38.

100 freestyle 24, Morgan Hibbs, Grand Island, 59.10.

500 freestyle 12, Miranda Vlach-Buller, Grand Island, 5:28.45.

200 freestyle relay 22, Grand Island (Alyson Hartwig, Ariel Lahowetz, Abigail Jameson, Miranda Vlach-Buller), 1:50.90.

100 backstroke Ariel Lahowetz, Grand Island, 1:02.03.

400 freestyle relay 20, Grand Island (Morgan Hibbs, Ariel Lahowetz, Lauren Shoemaker, Miranda Vlach-Buller), 4:03.05.