The Glendale Falcons Swim and Dive team hosted the 2016 Springfield Invitational on Saturday. Twenty-two schools participated in the event, with the Cape Central Tigers dominating the day. The Tigers won eight of the 12 contested events and placed in the top five several times. Ozark ended up being the top team for the area, finishing fifth overall.
“I think the Cape Central team that we saw today is probably the number one team in the state and they are pretty phenomenal,” said Glendale/Ozark swim coach Steve Boyce. “To be fifth overall for Ozark was amazing.”
Ozark and Glendale continued to battle, along with the other area schools, but had no answer for the powerhouse Cape Central Team. Rockhurst and Columbia Rockbridge finished in a close second and third place.
“I thought we had a really good day; it was really a lot of fun to see our teams from Ozark and Glendale battle,” said Boyce. “We had some great swims along the way. We saw Sam Clifford, as a senior, make his state cut in the 50, which gives him another event to look at and he finished second in the 100 backstroke. Those were pretty spectacular on him. From Glendale, Sam Beatty made both the 50 free and the 100 free, so added some events from him and made state qualifying in those events.”
Cole Earl of Glendale finished second in the 1m diving competition.
“It is the first time he’s ever broken 500 points, so that was pretty special for him,” said Boyce.
Even though they finished in fifth and sixth place, Boyce was proud of the way his Ozark and Glendale swimmers raced.
“It was really a good day overall,” said Boyce. “Today was just kids getting up and racing. These kids and some of these teams, we were in Cape Girardeau a couple weeks ago and saw a lot of these guys. Some of them were in Columbia a week ago and then they came here. It was just an opportunity to race.”
As the end of the season nears, everyone is looking to have their best times.
“I told my guys, you’ve got six people at a time, win your heat. If you win your heat, you’re going to have a great day. We saw a lot of that happen, and it was fun. We had a number of personal bests, from our rookie guys to our senior leaders. State’s in three weeks and we’ve got a few more qualifying times that I think we can make, a couple more relays to work on. We’re doing the COC and OC combo meet next Friday. Our big Southwest MO Championship is the next weekend, and then off to state. We’re getting into the final stretch. We’ll start getting the kids a little bit of rest and a little bit of speed work and see what we can pull off.”
The Glendale Falcons Swim and Dive team hosted the 2016 Springfield Invitational on Saturday. Twenty-two schools participated in the event, with the Cape Central Tigers dominating the day. The Tigers won eight of the 12 contested events and placed in the top five several times. Ozark ended up being the top team for the area, finishing fifth overall.
“I think the Cape Central team that we saw today is probably the number one team in the state and they are pretty phenomenal,” said Glendale/Ozark swim coach Steve Boyce. “To be fifth overall for Ozark was amazing.”
Ozark and Glendale continued to battle, along with the other area schools, but had no answer for the powerhouse Cape Central Team. Rockhurst and Columbia Rockbridge finished in a close second and third place.
“I thought we had a really good day; it was really a lot of fun to see our teams from Ozark and Glendale battle,” said Boyce. “We had some great swims along the way. We saw Sam Clifford, as a senior, make his state cut in the 50, which gives him another event to look at and he finished second in the 100 backstroke. Those were pretty spectacular on him. From Glendale, Sam Beatty made both the 50 free and the 100 free, so added some events from him and made state qualifying in those events.”
Cole Earl of Glendale finished second in the 1m diving competition.
“It is the first time he’s ever broken 500 points, so that was pretty special for him,” said Boyce.
Even though they finished in fifth and sixth place, Boyce was proud of the way his Ozark and Glendale swimmers raced.
“It was really a good day overall,” said Boyce. “Today was just kids getting up and racing. These kids and some of these teams, we were in Cape Girardeau a couple weeks ago and saw a lot of these guys. Some of them were in Columbia a week ago and then they came here. It was just an opportunity to race.”
As the end of the season nears, everyone is looking to have their best times.
“I told my guys, you’ve got six people at a time, win your heat. If you win your heat, you’re going to have a great day. We saw a lot of that happen, and it was fun. We had a number of personal bests, from our rookie guys to our senior leaders. State’s in three weeks and we’ve got a few more qualifying times that I think we can make, a couple more relays to work on. We’re doing the COC and OC combo meet next Friday. Our big Southwest MO Championship is the next weekend, and then off to state. We’re getting into the final stretch. We’ll start getting the kids a little bit of rest and a little bit of speed work and see what we can pull off.”
