Northeast newcomer Davis making progress in the pool
Katherine Davis is happy, healthy and helping to lead her Lincoln Northeast teammates to new heights in the pool this winter.
Davis, who transferred from Lincoln East last summer while she struggled to recover from tendinitis in her rotator cuff, couldn’t stop smiling as she talked about her progress and that of her new teammates.
At Saturday’s Gene Cotter Invitational at Lincoln High, Davis captured two individual events and anchored the Rockets’ winning 400-yard freestyle relay team that wrapped up the team title for Northeast.
“This summer, I was real down,” said Davis, who had never before been slowed by an injury. “But while I was working my way back, this team helped me the most. I love their spirit, all their support.
“Now, all I want to do is swim my hardest for them.”
An impact freshman, Davis placed third in the 100 backstroke and sixth in the 200 individual medley in last year’s state meet. On Saturday, she captured both events, winning the individual medley in a meet-record time of 2:17.01.
Her winning time in the backstroke, an event featuring three swimmers ranked among the top 10 in the state this season, was 1:02.23.
Davis posted a time of 1:00.96 earlier this season, just off her state-meet performance of a year ago.
That was perhaps the most encouraging sign yet that her regimen of training, stretching and therapy has worked. There are still weeks when she’s bothered by the injury, but she’s learned how to work through it and bounce back even stronger.
Davis hopes to challenge Omaha Marian’s Karen Criss, a three-time champion in the backstroke, at next month’s state meet. Northeast has never had a state champion in girls swimming.
“She’s kind of a catalyst, but everybody on this team feeds off of each other,” said Northeast head coach Ed Muller. “We have a lot of those enthusiastic attitudes.”
Northeast edged Kearney 258-245 for the girls title. The Rockets’ Brianna Nelsen, a freshman, won the 200 freestyle and joined Kelli Linke, Shelbie Scharf and Davis on the winning relay team.
Lincoln High’s Mandi Scheerer swept the sprint freestyle events, while teammate Maggie Terry won the 100 butterfly. The LHS girls finished fourth.
Emily Burbach of Lincoln North Star captured Friday’s diving competition.
In the boys portion of the meet, North Platte grabbed the team title by a 214-201½ margin over North Star. The Navigators didn’t win an event but counted on second-place finishes in four of the 12 events to challenge for top honors.
Meet records were set by Sam Holmes of Kearney in the boys 100 freestyle (:49.34) and Anne Rittmueller of Grand Island in the girls 500 freestyle (5:22.14). Rittmueller finished nearly 40 seconds ahead of her closest rival.
Holmes also won the 200 freestyle. The senior’s time of 1:48.50 was the third-fastest in the state this season.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
Davis, who transferred from Lincoln East last summer while she struggled to recover from tendinitis in her rotator cuff, couldn’t stop smiling as she talked about her progress and that of her new teammates.
At Saturday’s Gene Cotter Invitational at Lincoln High, Davis captured two individual events and anchored the Rockets’ winning 400-yard freestyle relay team that wrapped up the team title for Northeast.
“This summer, I was real down,” said Davis, who had never before been slowed by an injury. “But while I was working my way back, this team helped me the most. I love their spirit, all their support.
“Now, all I want to do is swim my hardest for them.”
An impact freshman, Davis placed third in the 100 backstroke and sixth in the 200 individual medley in last year’s state meet. On Saturday, she captured both events, winning the individual medley in a meet-record time of 2:17.01.
Her winning time in the backstroke, an event featuring three swimmers ranked among the top 10 in the state this season, was 1:02.23.
Davis posted a time of 1:00.96 earlier this season, just off her state-meet performance of a year ago.
That was perhaps the most encouraging sign yet that her regimen of training, stretching and therapy has worked. There are still weeks when she’s bothered by the injury, but she’s learned how to work through it and bounce back even stronger.
Davis hopes to challenge Omaha Marian’s Karen Criss, a three-time champion in the backstroke, at next month’s state meet. Northeast has never had a state champion in girls swimming.
“She’s kind of a catalyst, but everybody on this team feeds off of each other,” said Northeast head coach Ed Muller. “We have a lot of those enthusiastic attitudes.”
Northeast edged Kearney 258-245 for the girls title. The Rockets’ Brianna Nelsen, a freshman, won the 200 freestyle and joined Kelli Linke, Shelbie Scharf and Davis on the winning relay team.
Lincoln High’s Mandi Scheerer swept the sprint freestyle events, while teammate Maggie Terry won the 100 butterfly. The LHS girls finished fourth.
Emily Burbach of Lincoln North Star captured Friday’s diving competition.
In the boys portion of the meet, North Platte grabbed the team title by a 214-201½ margin over North Star. The Navigators didn’t win an event but counted on second-place finishes in four of the 12 events to challenge for top honors.
Meet records were set by Sam Holmes of Kearney in the boys 100 freestyle (:49.34) and Anne Rittmueller of Grand Island in the girls 500 freestyle (5:22.14). Rittmueller finished nearly 40 seconds ahead of her closest rival.
Holmes also won the 200 freestyle. The senior’s time of 1:48.50 was the third-fastest in the state this season.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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