Conner’s last lap, Jennings swimmer chases two records

Conner, a University of South Dakota signee, dominated the 50-and 100-yard freestyle as a freshman and sophomore, setting a Division III state record in both (21.33 in the 50 and 46.24 in the 100), but Episcopal’s Jiang Eugene bested him in 2020 and broke both records.

Conner touched the wall in 47.1 seconds in the 100 free preliminaries Wednesday to earn the No. 1 seed in today’s final. Jiang is seeded third (50.23).

Eugene will have the coveted Lane 4 in the 50 free after clocking in at 20.96 seconds Wednesday, and Conner is the two seed at 21.5.

The Division III finals will start at 9 a.m. followed by the Division IV finals at 3 p.m.

St. Louis Catholic qualified one individual and three relay teams for the finals.

Sophomore Williams Bright is the four seed in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.23).

The Saints are seeded fourth in the 200 free relay and seventh in the 200 medley relay. The St. Louis girls’ 200 free relay is the eight seed (1:57.13).

Division I and II preliminaries will be at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Friday with the finals at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.

In Division I, Sulphur senior Brice Bounds is in the top four in the 50 (22.14) and 100 free

(48.61), while sophomore Conner Vidrine has the fifth-best time in the 100 backstroke (57.14).

The Tors also boast top-eight qualifying times in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.

Barbe girls’ 200 and 400 free relays teams are seeded sixth and seventh, respectively, heading into the preliminaries.

In Division II, Sam Houston has the No. 3 boys 200 free relay team and No. 8 girls 200 free relay team.

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