Maize High's Popp wins three gold medals

   Maize High School junior Lucas Popp won three gold medals over the weekend at the Class 6A Swimming and Diving Championships in Topeka, while Wichita East edged Maize by one point to finish third overall.

   Popp brought home individual titles in the 50-yard freestyle (21.34) and 100-freestyle (46.08), plau anchored the winning 200-medley relay team that set a state record.  Popp was joined on the relay team by Mitchell Wagner, Christopher Clemens and Gavin Olson.  Popp also swam on the second-place 400-relay team.

   Shawnee Mission East won its sixth state title in eight years with 337 points.  Blue Valley North was second with 272.5, followed by Wichita East with 196 and Maize with 195.

   Wichita East was led by senior Jake Spitz, who won individual titles in the 200-I.M. (1:54.01) and 100-buitterfly (50.99).  Spitz also was a member of the second-place 200-medley relay team.

   Nate Pirner of East was also a member of the 200-medley relay team and finished first in the 200-breaststroke with a time of 69.20.  Meanwhile,  Wagner won the 100-backstroke (51.39) to give Maize its fourth even title of the day.

   In the Class 5A state championships, Blue Valley won the team title for the second straight year with 291 points.  Bishop Carroll was second with 192.

   Winfield junior Kaiser Witte was a double-winner for the Vikings, winning the 200-freestyle (1:44.99) by nearly 2 1/2 seconds and the 50-freestyle (21.53).

   Andrew Parker of Wichita Independent won the 100-breatstsroke with a time of 1:02.11.