Tigersharks use depth to pull away

Tigers girls’ swimming and diving coach Rory Fairbanks knew he had a solid team coming back into the pool this season.

One invitational and two duel meets in, the word “solid” is a true statement for the lineup top to bottom.

“The kids are swimming well and finding more things they can do. We have more flexibility with our lineup then we’ve had in years past,” Fairbanks said. “Both Northfield and Farmington have solid kids, but we just have more of them.”

Audrey Kumm, Kaylee Kucera and Jordan Ford each won two individual events, while Rebecca Lauer won another as Hutchinson defeated Farmington, 98-83.

The Tigersharks swam the final two events in exhibition mode.

After winning the dual with Farmington in the final event a year ago, a younger lineup was no match for the Tigersharks Thursday.

Hutchinson won nine of 11 events, including three of the first four before the diving program.

The 200 medley relay team swam a season-best time of 1:56.10, while Kumm and Lauer won the 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle races.

Kucera (100 fly and 100 back), Ford (100 free), Kumm (500 free) all won individual events as Hutchinson pulled away with a 98-58 lead through nine events.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.