For the Irish boys and girls swim teams, the state swim meet could not have been more different. The Irish boys had to face Class 5A, while the Lady Irish had to go lane-to-lane with Class 6A.

The Lady Irish, to say the least, struggled with their events. However, the boys made their presence known amongst the 5A competition.

In the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay, six seconds separated the victorious Bixby team and McGuinness’ Patrick Dolan, Jack Downs, Joe Rohleder, and Nate Yokell. In this relay, the Irish finished fourth with a time of 1:48.75 behind just Bixby, Harrah, and Kingfisher.

Senior Nate Yokell was hoping to bring home the title for McGuinness, but he still put forth a good effort at OCCC. In the Boys 100 Yard Butterfly, Yokell took fifth, and ninth in the Boys 200 Yard Individual Medley.

Yokell also contributed to an Irish fourth place finish in the Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Alongside Nate in this relay were once again Patrick Dolan and Joe Rohleder, as well as Austin Augustus.

Joe Rohleder, also, participated in a tight Boys 100 Yard Backstroke, where the top swimmers were not separated by much. Rohleder took sixth, but was just four seconds short of beating out Bixby’s Bryan Lee.

Also, placing fifth in both the Boys 500 Yard Freestyle and Boys 200 Yard Individual Medley was Patrick Dolan.

The McGuinness boys ended the day with a solid fourth place finish, and lost to a respectable Bixby squad who put it all out in the pool this past weekend.

Swim season ended on a note the Irish were not hoping, but McGuinness Swim has a bright future with first year head coach Mark Veneklasen at the helm. Better luck next season.