By Matt Turer – mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Kickapoo senior Krystal Caylor is bringing gold home to Springfield. Caylor finished first in Saturday’s 200-yard IM final in St. Joseph, becoming the first Kickapoo female swimmer to claim a state title since 1985. This isn’t a surprise for Caylor, who has been dominant in swimming’s version of the gymnastics all-around all year.
Caylor, who’s bound for the University of Indianapolis this fall, took the event in 2:03.48, dropping 0.93 off her seed time and previous season-best, set in Friday’s preliminaries. Rockbridge junior Nicole Williams took second, nearly a full second (2:04.56) behind Caylor.
Krystal Caylor 200 IM State Champion!!#CHIEF PRIDE! pic.twitter.com/KfkSJTNJv2
— Kickapoo Girls Swim (@KickapooSwim) February 18, 2017
Caylor also grabbed a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke. She ends her career at Kickapoo with or as a part of seven of 11 swim records.
Kickapoo finished 10th overall at state with 86 points, the highest finish for an area school. Summit Prep finished 11th with 82 points. Lafayette (STL) won the overall state title with 224 points.
Saturday was a good, but in some ways tough, day for Summit Prep. After junior sprinter Molly Moore set a new state record in the 50-yard freestyle on Friday (23.22), she broke that record in the finals on Saturday (23.07) only to finish second to St. Joseph Academy senior Anna Miller (22.89).
Molly Moore broke her own 50free state record set yesterday but so did St. Joseph Academy’s Anna Miller, who took the gold. Crazy! pic.twitter.com/Qb1oL8ckYv
— Matt Turer (@MattTurer) February 18, 2017
Miller dropped an unbelievable 0.48 off her time in the event, becoming the first female swimmer in Missouri high school history to crack 23.00 in the 50. Moore had been the defending state champion in the event. Kickapoo’s Kaylor Herron placed ninth (24.43) in the 50, winning the consolation heat.
Miller (50.36) edged Moore (51.09) again in the 100-yard freestyle, dropping nearly a full second off her time. Moore finished second last year in the 100 as well. Moore should be primed for a shot at two individual golds as a senior next year and should have a shot at state records in both the 50 and the 100.
The Kickapoo team of Alison Pool, Caylor, Kayla Herron and Mariah Alberty placed eighth in the 200-yard medley relay (1:51.96). The Glendale team of Maddie Duncan, Danielle Robinson, Cali Hackworth and Ashley Baldwin won the consolation heat (1:51.28) and actually bettered Kickapoo’s finals time.
The Summit Prep team of Claire McCune, Eden Chiu-Pinheiro, Katie McCune and Moore finished seventh in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:40.16). That same group took eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:40.15).
Rogersville freshman Cabrini Johnson took first in the 100-yard breaststroke consolation heat (1:07.28). Her consolation time was actually the sixth-fastest overall time on Saturday, finishing faster than two swimmers in the championship heat.
Glendale senior diver Josie Stephens placed 20th in the diving semifinals (230.85). The top sixteen divers qualify for finals.
