Georgia Shinliver

Sumner Newscow report – Wellington’s Georgia Shinliver finished eighth in the 100-yard freestyle, becoming the first Crusader girl to place in the finals in a high school state meet. She finished with a time of 56.83 in the finals, after posting 57.23 in the preliminaries. 

The 200-yard relay team placed 16th, while the 400-yard relay team finished 15th. The full results can be found here.

Overall, the Wellington girls swim team placed 25th out of 35 schools at the Class 5-1A State championship in Lenexa held last week at the Shawnee Mission Aquatic Center.

The following is a descriptive account of the big weekend the Wellington girls had.

Wellington girls participating or serving as an alternative in the Class 5-1A state meet include, from left: Lola Zeka(alternate), Georgia Shinliver (qualifier), Sophie Cornejo (qualifier), Abby Ybarra (qualifier), Caroline Mott (qualifier) (Courtesy photo)

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From the Blocks to the Podium: Wellington Makes Their Mark at the 2026 5-1A State Swimming Championships 

One year ago, Wellington showed up to the state swimming championships as a program the rest of Kansas was just beginning to notice. They swam on a single consideration time, left it all in the pool, and came home without a point on the scoreboard. However, Cornejo, McComb, Shinliver, and Ybarra came home with something more valuable than any trophy. They came home knowing they belonged.

This year, Kansas found out just how much. At the 2026 Class 5-1A State Swimming and Diving Championships in Lenexa, the Wellington Lady Crusaders showed up with a splash. Sophie Cornejo, Caroline Mott, Georgia Shinliver, and Abby Ybarra didn’t just compete. They scored.

They placed. They cut time on nearly every single swim. When the final results were posted, Wellington stood 25th, finishing ahead of 12 other teams competing for the state bragging rights. Across all races, the Lady Crusaders cut a combined 13.44 seconds. That number doesn’t happen by accident. That number happens because of hard work, heart, and four girls who refuse to stop improving. The journey to that finish line was filled with moments Wellington fans will be talking about for years.

Georgia Shinliver Makes History

If there was a single defining moment of Wellington’s 2026 state meet, it came in the 100 freestyle finals when sophomore Shinliver stepped onto the block, dove into the water, and touched the wall in 56.83 seconds. Shinliver had arrived at the state seeded 10th in the 50 freestyle and 19th in the 100 freestyle. In the 50 freestyle preliminaries, she swam a stunning time and personal best of 25.91, only to be disqualified on a technicality. It was a gut punch. The kind of moment that breaks lesser competitors. Except Shinliver didn’t break. She came back. In the 100 freestyle prelims, she answered with a personal best of 57.23, rocketing from the 19th seed all the way to eighth and punching her ticket to the championship finals.

Then, under the brightest lights of the season, she did it again, touching the wall at 56.83, cutting a total of 2.67 seconds on that race across two days of competition. Shinliver finished eighth and stood on the championship podium. She is the first female Wellington swimmer in history to earn a state championship medal. For a program that has rostered only 10 swimmers in its entire history, this milestone is almost too big to put into words.

Wellington swim relay team with Coach Conover and Coach Buffum.

The Relays Rise to the Occasion

The individual glory wasn’t the only story of the weekend. Wellington’s relay teams showed up to Lenexa and got faster, again.

The 200 freestyle relay entered the state meet with a qualifying time and was seeded 15th. In preliminaries, the girls cut 1.04 seconds, moving up to 14th and advancing to the consolation championship final, where they placed 16th overall. A beautiful performance on the biggest stage of their season.

The 400 freestyle relay, however, was the most jaw-dropping swim of the meet. Entering with only a consideration time and seeded 20th, nobody could have predicted what came next. In preliminaries, the girls sliced 7.74 seconds off their time, a stunning drop that vaulted them to 16th and into the consolation championship final.

There, they cut another 1.54 seconds and placed 15th. In total, the 400 freestyle relay cut 9.28 seconds across two swims. Nine seconds. In a sport where tenths of a second separate champions from everyone else, that number is extraordinary. Both relay teams were made of Sophie Cornejo, Caroline Mott, Abby Ybarra, and Georgia Shinliver. The Bigger Picture The numbers tell the story, but the growth behind them tells a better one. Last year, Wellington arrived at the state with one point and left without a single point on the scoreboard.

This year, they came armed with four qualifying times and three consideration times, placed 25th out of 37 teams, cut 13.44 combined seconds across all races, and watched one of their own stand on a championship podium for the first time in program history.

It is worth pausing to acknowledge what this group has built, and who helped them build it. This season marks the final year of Coach Jay Buffum as head coach of the Winfield Vikings. He is stepping into a new role as Assistant Athletic Director for Winfield, and while that is a tremendous, well-deserved opportunity, it leaves a hole on the pool deck that will not be easy to fill. Since 2021, Coach Buffum has welcomed Wellington swimmers as his own. Wellington will miss him more than words can say, but they know he’ll still be watching.

And somewhere in the stands, when these girls touch the wall at future state competitions, Coach Buffum will still be the loudest one cheering. The 2026 Wellington Lady Crusaders, who made the trip to Lenexa, Georgia, Shinliver, Abby Ybarra, Sophie Cornejo, Caroline Mott, and alternate Lola Zeka, came to state as league champions of their 200 freestyle relay. They left as something even better. They left as a program on the rise, with unfinished business and a whole lot of swim left in them. Wellington finished 25th out of 37 teams at the 2026 Class 5-1A State Swimming and Diving Championships in Lenexa. Individual state medalist: Georgia Shinliver, 8th place, 100 freestyle (56.83). 400 freestyle relay: 15th place. 200 freestyle relay: 15th place.