William Chrisman foreign exchange student excels in the pool and nearly qualifies for state in his first competition.
Daniel Kuropka, an AFS student from Slovakia, swam two events last night in Belton for his new school, William Chrisman. In his first event, the 200 Individual Medley, he swam a time of 2:07.85 missing the state automatic standard of 2:06.09. Later in the afternoon, Kuropka swam the 100 Butterfly, also nearly qualifying with a time of :57.12, missing state by less than a second. Coach Trevor Tomney was encouraged to see Daniel swim his first meet and was quoted as saying “Daniel hasn’t been swimming competitively for three years, so there’s no telling what this season holds for him!” If things go well, the “Slovakian Express” might be headed to St. Peters in November to represent the Bears at the MSHAA state competition. The next meet for Chrisman is Wednesday, Sep. 6 at the Henley Aquatic Center at 4:00 PM.