The Braves 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay teams — consisting of Derr, junior Avery Young, freshman Madi Lee and freshman Elizabeth Hill — qualified for the state meet, which begins with preliminary rounds on Thursday at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.
It’s the most girls Shawnee has advanced to the state meet in coach Carrie McGuire’s nine years as head coach.
“The girls kind of set these goals at the beginning of the year, and they’ve worked really hard to get here and accomplish these goals,” McGuire said. “As the season progressed and I saw how hard the girls worked and how much they wanted it, I’m not surprised.”
Derr and Lee qualified for the state meet in the same events — the 200 and 500 freestyle, although they’re not really sure how it worked out that way, Lee said.
“I think we both knew that we could both do really well in those events, and we could also just push each other in them,” Lee said. “It just happened.”
Derr is seeded seventh in the 200 free with a time of 1 minute, 54.79 seconds and Lee is seeded 10th at 1:55.89.
In the 500 free, Derr ranks seventh (5:10.58) and Lee ranks eighth (5:10.72).
Derr, the Central Buckeye Conference Swimmer of the Year, has been on a mission this season to improve her times this season, she said.
“I think that this year, specifically through club and through high school swimming, I’ve put a lot more work in realizing that I’m getting closer to my senior year and closer to college, and knowing that swimming in college is a possibility,” Derr said. “I’m just wanting to work towards that more, but also knowing that there’s a possibility of bringing relays to state this year, and wanting to do better for my teammates and having relays at state was a big thing for me too.”
Derr opted to swim in the 200 and 500 free to “try something new,” she said. Her goal is to finish on the podium with a top-8 finish.
“I have been doing pretty similar events in high school and in club, which is more repetitive for me, and I sometimes get a little bit burnt out of those events,” she said. “I just wanted to try something new and just get a new challenge.”
Derr also gets to swim with Lee, her longtime Springfield YMCA teammate. They’ve been swimming together since they were 8 years old, she said.
While Lee is a first-time state qualifier as a freshman, she’s competed in multi-day national meets with the SPY club, an experience that will be helpful in Canton, she said.
“Madi has big goals,“ McGuire said. ”One of them was just getting to state, which she’s accomplished, so meeting that goal, I think everybody has a little sigh of relief. But that doesn’t mean they’re relaxed. Both Lola and Madi are still going out strong. They have something to prove."
The Braves 200 medley relay (1:54.11) and 400 free relay (3:48.10) are each seeded 19th. The goal, McGuire said, is to advance to the finals by finishing in the top 16.
“It’s fun to see them get there together and work together and be excited to be there with their teammates,” McGuire said.
Two other area swimmers qualified for the state meet — Greenon senior Emmie Scribben qualified in the 200 (1:56.91) and the 100 back (59.04) and Northwestern senior Addy Hensley advanced in the 50 free (25.37).
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