Sprague’s Andy Hernandez competes in the 200-yard IM during a Greater Valley Conference dual meet on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, at the Kroc Center.
McNary’s Marissa Kuch competes in the 200-yard freestyle during a Greater Valley Conference dual meet on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, at the Kroc Center.
There is a compelling reason why Marissa Kuch has rocketed to the level of one of the top freestyle swimmers in the state.
After handily winning the 200 free (2:01.28) and 50 free (25.35) and anchoring McNary High girls swim team’s winning 200 medley relay (1:47.35) and 400 free relay reams (4:09.83) in Thursday’s dual meet against Sprague, the sophomore left the Kroc Center and went straight to a practice with her club team, Mid-Valley Aquatics.
Dedication like that has been common practice as Kuch wants to swim for McNary, but also be one of the top swimmers around.
“So for like high school, I care how I do because I’m under McNary’s name and I want to get McNary’s name out there because I want to show them that McNary’s strong in certain races and certain sports,” Kuch said.
Where concentration on club swimming was all the rage for club swimmers a few years ago, Kuch bucked that trend.
In winning the 200 free in a time faster than all of the boys and girls in the meet with Sprague, she displays that competing in high school swimming and club swimming can be conducive to success on both ends.
“I think having someone like that doing high school swimming is definitely a plus because it does show those kids that you can be very successful in swimming and very good at something and still be part of the team aspect of it,” second-year McNary coach Casey Lewin said.
“Club swimming is very much about the times and high school swimming is about the team. It shows that kids can do both and be successful at both.”
Kuch has fun competing in the high school atmosphere, but there isn’t a lot of competition for her in most meets.
Instead, she says she concentrates on mowing down McNary’s school records in the freestyle races, which were previously held by Amber Boucher.
She broke the school’s 200 free record as a freshman last season and she broke the 500 free record last week.
McNary’s Marissa Kuch gets ready to compete in the 200-yard freestyle during a Greater Valley Conference dual meet on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, at the Kroc Center.
“The 100 and 50 I’m actually very close,” Kuch said. “To be able to get those records I’m going to need to be tapered and in a suit. With the 100 free, I’m hoping at state this year I can get the record.
“It’s all mental so like I could get in the pool right now and do it if I was mentally prepared, but our bodies right now are so tired from club, I need to be rested, I feel like.”
McNary defeated Sprague in the girls side of the dual meet 102-63.
Besides Kuch’s contributions, McNary won the 200 medley relay, sophomore Bailey White won the 100 fly in 1:14.91 and sophomore Lizzie Bryant won the 100 back in 1:11.31.
Sprague’s freshman class was impressive as Charis Duffus won the 200 IM (2:26.69) and 500 free (5:42.73), freshman Isabelle Dolezal won the 100 free (1:02.94) and freshman Ericka Greene won the 100 breast (1:19.04).
McNary’s boys defeated Sprague 109-45.
In the boys, McNary swept all three relays, senior Georgio Corrieri won the 100 free in 1:01.74 and the 100 back in 1:01.74, junior Jake Wyer won the 50 free in 25.33, sophomore Grant Biondi won the 200 free in 2:06.00 and freshman Harrison Vaughn won the 100 breast in 1:12.68.
Sprague’s Andy Hernandez won the 200 IM (2:26.34) and 100 fly (1:02.60) and Theo Lassen won the 500 free (5:43.36).
McNary’s strength, along with Kuch’s big-point scoring swims, is its young swimmers.
“Right now, which is very exciting for me as a coaching staff, is we’re in kind of an upswing,” Lewin said. “We only graduated eight last year, and this year we’re only going to graduate about 10.
“We have 54 out this year, which is about 10 or so more than we had last year, and I want to say 35 of those kids are underclassmen. We have another handful of freshmen coming in next year, especially on the girls side, that should help us get stronger.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler