By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Springfield, Mo. — Glendale swim and dive overwhelmed a field of 332 swimmers from 24 schools at Saturday’s Ozarks Invitational, finishing over 200 points ahead of second-place Kickapoo and third-place Blue Springs to again claim the meet title.
The Falcons took first in two of the day’s three relays and claimed first in two individual events, including senior Josie Stephens’ top spot in the morning diving session and sophomore Abby Margreiter in the 100-yard freestyle (55.21). Margreiter’s 100-freestyle time qualified her for state.
“Where our team is right now, we don’t have that flashy superstar that’s going to go out and win a bunch of races,” Glendale swim coach Steve Boyce said. “We saw that our of Abby. She did a great job there. But we’re going to be you up by finishing two and three people in the top six, and we did that a couple different times today and scored a whole bunch of points.”
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What makes Glendale special isn’t strength in numbers. It’s strength and numbers.
“It takes a little bit of everybody. This is a great day of swimming. I’m very pleased. You get to the end of this and we started racing five hours ago and we’re still going crazy for the last relay. We’re still going crazy for the breaststroke race. We’re still pushing hard.”
Glendale opened and closed the day with relay wins, taking the 200-yard medley relay at the meet’s start in 1:55.41. Kickapoo finished second (1:57.55). Glendale took first in the 400-yard medley relay by a comfortable margin, finishing in 3:54.21, ahead of Blue Springs (3:59.28) and Ozark (4:07.34).
Kickapoo Takes Five Firsts
While Glendale took home the meet crown, Kickapoo claimed the most golds with five first-place finishes, including the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:44.08), lowering its season-best time in the process.
Senior Krystal Caylor won the 50-yard freestyle (25.39) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:25.39) and junior Kayla Herron won the 200-yard freestyle (2:01.57) and 100-yard butterfly (1:01.28).
“I’m really happy with my swims coming off of Christmas break,” Herron said. “We had hard practices over break and I’m just happy with the swims. I feel good. I’ve had a lot of good swims [this season]. I’m happy and I love the team. We have so many more people [on the team] this year which is a big positive.”
Unlike most of the country, Christmas break for swimmers doesn’t mean it’s time to guiltlessly pack on a few extra calories for winter. Quite the opposite.
“We have a bunch of two-a-days and extra-hard practices,” Herron said. “Then at night we work on drills to help with the small things at meets.”
Young Talent Prevalent Throughout Meet
Rogersville freshman Cabrini Johnson highlighted what appears to be a strong group of freshman and sophomore swimmers in the region.
Johnson took first in the 200-yard individual medley (her 2:16.19 time was 1.64 seconds below her seed time) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:11.08), Nixa sophomore Olivia Stoneman won the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.84) and Margreiter won the 100-yard freestyle.
“[Johnson] has her state cut in the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke and got her 200 individual medley cut today,” Rogersville and Springfield Central head coach Wendy Shepard said. “She’s one of our harder workers.”
Johnson isn’t the only young swimmer that has Shepard excited about the future of swimming at Rogersville and Central. Central freshman Hailee Richards finished second in the 500-yard freestyle, topping her personal best by over two full seconds.
“[Richards] has been putting in a ton of work,” Shepard said. “She’s one of our biggest workhorses at practice. She really stepped it up a notch the last few days. I don’t have any doubt in my mind she’s going to make the state cut in the 500. It’s just a matter of fixing a few little tweeks.
“It’s interesting having [Johnson and Richards] at practice together because they really kind of push each other.”
The Bulldogs finished fourth at the meet with 207.5 points. Rogersville finished eighth with 104.5 points.
“Central is doing great,” Shepard said. “I’m really excited about where things can go. We’ve got a really good group of freshman this year. We’re really looking at already qualifying a couple relays to state. We’re really close. I really think in the next three-to-four years when these freshmen are seniors we’re really going to be something to be reckoned with.”
The top-three finishers in the 100-yard breaststroke were all underclassmen, with Glendale sophomore Ashley Baldwin (1:11.46) and Central sophomore Katie Lu (1:12.87) finishing behind Johnson.
Monett sophomore Kelli Sangston placed third in the 100-yard backstroke (1:04.21). Glendale sophomore Sam Rathjen placed third in the 100-yard freestyle (59.78). Margreiter placed second in the 50-yard freestyle (25.72). Stoneman placed second in the 200-yard freestyle (2:03).
FINAL POINT TOTALS
1. Glendale 493.5
2. Kickapoo 285.5
3. Blue Springs 259
4. Springfield Central 207.5
5. Ozark 207
6. Nevada 132
7. Monett 128.5
8. Rogersville 104.5
9. Nixa 83
10. Francis Howell Central 79
11. Joplin 78.5
12. Warrensburg 46
13. Winnetonka 38
14. Raytown South 28
15. Raytown 25
16. Hillcrest 24
16. Greenwood 24
18. Springfield Catholic 19
19. West Plains 18
20. Seymour 14
21. MV-BT/Liberty 11
22. Marshfield 9
23. Camdenton 6
24. Bolivar 2
