Just over a week away...

By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com

It’s a different feeling heading into this year’s state swimming championships. For one, it could be an even longer two days with the Class 5A and 6A competitions (not that I mind).

Also, there’s no Samantha Woodward to galvanize the weekend. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t swimmers worth watching for.

The biggest thing is going to be to see just how strong Jenks and Union are. In talking with Oklahoma City area coaches, they believe it’s a fight for third at this point with the Redskins and Trojans doing what they normally do.

I’m not going to count out Stillwater, either. Guess it’s just going to matter about how much depth the Pioneers have.

Spoke with Edmond coach Steve Riggs about last weekend’s Mid-State and Metro Conference championships. Sounds like while we don’t have any one great storyline this year, there are plenty of mini-stories to go around.

For starters, after the weather wreaked havoc on the swimming schedules, the boys and girls came through huge. Five conference records were set and some of them were extremely impressive.

Putnam North’s Parris Schoppa has come into her own as a senior and broke both the 50 and 100 free marks. Staying in Putnam, Putnam West’s Kaylee Steffen has only built off her surprising state win in the 100 backstroke. Only this year, she’s doing it in every event, setting the mark in the 100 fly and 200 individual medley.

Norman and Norman North are canceling each other out. Coach Kent Nicholson has done a remarkable job in building those two programs. How can you not be impressed by NN’s duo of Wilson Wei and Ian McKenzie? But Norman is no slouch, either, with foreign exchange transfer Bruno Lipiani and senior Jack Hardwick. The Normans, much like the Edmond squads, might have been the team to beat if they were one unit.