The Bruins made their dominating presence known during the “last chance” invitational against Hickman, Hannibal and Marshall at Hickman pool Feb. 4.
The RBHS team of sophomore Hanna Flanagan and seniors Bri Noltie, Kate Walker and Kortney Betz had a standout performance in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing with a time of 1:59.24 over Hannibal’s time of 2:03.56. The Bruins continued to win each relay, propelling them to a first place finish overall.
Though she and her teammates predicted the Bruins would win, junior Clara Phillips said the meet’s purpose was to give the swimmers practice for the state championships which begin Feb. 17 where RBHS aims to place in the top five.
“RBHS won or got pretty close to first in pretty much all of the events,” Phillips said. “It’s one of our last chance meets so a lot of people are more rested than usual so they’re going to be swimming faster.”
In addition, the meet served as an opportunity to recognize seniors. After the meet concluded, the team lined the pool deck, honoring seniors Kate Walker, Shelby Smith and Bri Noltie. Coach Karen Steger spoke on behalf of the three girls and the seniors from Hickman, recognizing them with their parents.
“Last weekend all of the junior girls … made [the seniors] posters with pictures …  for the meet,” Phillips said. “It’s really sad to be losing the seniors because over the past few months we’ve gotten to know them well and they are all really nice girls. We will miss them a lot.”
Overall, the meet provided an opportunity for the girls to fine-tune their races and swim fast as they begin to taper their training.
“I think it is a good encouraging meet because it helps us to have our last swims before we start thinking about what we should be doing in the post-season,” Phillips said. “It lets people practice how they will behave at state.”
The Bruins will race again Saturday Feb. 11 at Hickman pool for another last chance meet before they enter the post-season.
By Emily Wright