Nevada boys' swimming makes strong season debut

The Nevada High School boys' swim team officially got its season started Tuesday in the Springfield All-Relays meet.

"We went into this meet as a kind of a time trial," Tigers head coach Ryan Watts said. "I was more concerned with getting times than what place we got."

In most swim meets, teams are only allowed to swim one relay, but the All-Relays meet is designed as more of a tune-up, of sorts, for the season, allowing the Tigers to swim multiple relay races. The Tigers took full advantage, competing in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

The Tigers "swam well," Watts said, in the 400, posting the fourth-best time of 3 minutes, 43.66 seconds, but ultimately discovered it wasn't their best relay event. The Tigers were much better in the 200, taking third with a time of 1:40.47.

"I was very proud of our performance, especially our freshman who stepped up big with some pretty tough competition in their midst," Watts said. "We swam well, and are now getting geared up for our first full competition meet next week, when we go to Carthage!"

Next on the schedule for the Tigers is Friday, at the Joplin Invitational.