By MARSHALL MOORE

mmoore@gctelegram.com

A short time ago, a top-two finish at the Western Athletic Conference swim meet looked like a long shot for Garden City High School.

Now, it could become a reality.

The Buffaloes finished third at the Salina South/Central Invitational on Thursday with 284.5 team points to clinch their third straight top-three finish.

"If you would have asked me two weeks ago, I wouldn't have been so sure," Garden City coach Casey Wise said about a top finish at the WAC meet was possible. "But after these last two or three meets, we're really starting to get to a point where we can be seriously competitive."

Laisa Alcantar, Abby Bradstreet and Shannon McNeill led the way for the Buffaloes. Alcantar placed fourth in both the 200-yard intermediate medley and the 100 breaststroke. Bradstreet finished fifth in the 100 backstroke and 200 freestyle while McNeill took seventh in the 100 butterfly.

Alcantar, Bradstreet, McNeill and Whitney Wells also placed fourth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:09.47.

The real story though, may have been Garden City's depth.

The Buffaloes got a sixth place from their "B" relay squad of Nancy Nguyen, Aleasha Greene, Theresa Amante and Christina Nguyen. Greene also knocked six second off her best time in the 100 breastroke to finish sixth, while Amante took seventh in the 100 backstroke.

"Our depth is really starting to make progress," Wise said. "Our second and third swimmers in each event are starting to score while our first swimmers are still maintaining. What's paying off is those other girls are really starting to get into their groove."

Garden City will be at the end-of-season WAC meet in Hays on Tuesday.

For full Garden City results see Page B2.