Manhattan Indians Girls Swim and Dive is on fire at just the right time, placing first in their last two meets of the regular season.

On April 17, Manhattan placed first out of five teams in the Hayden Invite. Two days later, on April 19, the Indians placed first out of 10 teams at the Marion Invite.

In the Hayden Invite, the Indians scored 499 points, a whopping 50 points more than Seaman, who finished second.

Multiple Indians placed on the podium individually. Senior Ruth Perez got first in the 100-yard freestyle relay with a time of 58.95, junior Samantha Tarter got second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time 4:04.79, and the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Alison Brunenn, Selma Argenius, Caris Goering, and Delaney Saucier took home second with a time of 2:00.75.

At Hayden, the heats took place quickly, allowing little time for rest.

“It was good for us to have to race tired,” head coach Alex Brown said.

At the Marion Invite, the Indians scored 348.5 points, barely slipping by the second place team Marion High School who scored 342.5 points.

Individually, Manhattan had two first place finishers, Samantha Tarter in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:03.99 and Ruth Perez in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:15.35.

The Indians are a young squad this year with many of their standouts being underclassmen including freshmen Delaney Saucier and Sophia Hoeme, as well as sophomores Ava Mckee and Caris Goering.

“We lost a lot of very good seniors from last years,” Brown said.

The Indians will have a couple weeks off in preparation for the Centennial League meet on May 9 at Hummer Park in Topeka. After League, MHS will prepare for their season finale, the State Meet on May 16-18 in Kansas City.

“Get some people qualified and to try to make it [to State], that’s our biggest goal this year,” Brown said.