By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Since girls swimming became an official sport five years ago, the Central Ozark Conference meet has only been won by Webb City and Carl Junction.
Those teams still made the podium on Tuesday, but it was Ozark standing at the top inside the Buck Miner Swim Center in Webb City.
The Tigers earned a dozen medals, won five events and never trailed after setting the tone from the beginning. When it was all done, Carl Junction (225) and Webb City (249) were left looking up at Ozark and its 275 points.
“We’ve got a great group of girls,” Ozark coach Steve Boyce said. “Two years ago they were freshmen and they were sophomores a year ago and now they’re juniors with a couple seniors sprinkled in there. They’ve really come along, it was their turn. They’ve done the work and the training to get to this point. They were willing to spread out their events and be in some good spots. We had somebody on the podium in almost everything.”
The Tigers entered the first event, the 200 medley relay, seeded second and then managed to edge Carthage in a close battle for first place. Laura Pinzon Torres, Brooke Guyer, Jenabelle Justice and Grace Shaw finished in 1:58.11.
“Getting that flip flop to first sure gives you a lot of energy,” Boyce said.
Guyer set a new COC record while winning the 200 IM in 2:15.30, another early highlight for Ozark, and Justice placed third and Grace Mika sixth in the event for 37 more points.
Ozark’s next win came in the 500 freestyle, where Katie Coleman finished in 5:52.62 for first place. Lydia Ruby notched a fourth-place finish and Dani Price was seventh for a total of 34 more points.
With three events remaining, Ozark held a 21-point lead over the Cardinals, and the Tigers put the championship away with first-place finishes in the 100 backstroke and 400 freestyle relay.
Guyer was the winner in the backstroke with a time of 1:02.28. Pinzon Torres took third.
And in the finale, the 400 relay, it was Katie Coleman, Ruby, Pinzon Torres and Guyer finishing in 3:56.57 to get the gold.
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Ozark’s other medalists were Coleman (2nd) in the 200 freestyle, Grace Shaw (3rd) in the 50 freestyle, Justice (2nd) in the 100 butterfly, and Shaw (2nd) and Pinzon Torres (3rd) in the 100 freestyle.
“Brooke breaking the COC record in the IM was awesome,” Boyce said. “She didn’t have anybody to race with so doing it by herself was incredible. Katie Coleman coming back in the 500 was another highlight. She got out-touched in the 200 and lost and with the same girl came back in the 500 and reached big and out-touched her. That was fun to watch. Also Laura in the 100 free and 100 back was fantastic. Just lots of good stuff today, it was fun.”
Webb City’s quest for third straight title falls short
Entering Tuesday’s meet, Webb City coach Shawn Klosterman figured first place wasn’t out of range, but Ozark looked to be about 60 points better.
“We moved up as much as we could,” he said. “They really swam lights out and moved up individually over and over but it didn’t add up to what we needed.”
The Cardinals had won three titles in the last five years.
Webb City swimmers and divers won two events Tuesday: the 200 freestyle and the 1-meter diving. Norah Klosterman took home gold in the 200 with a time of 2:10.28, and Kelli Tollefson (268.25) and Kaedyn Lewis (249.55) were tops in the diving competition.
Those weren’t the Cardinals’ only trips to the podium. Norah Klosterman, Camryn Klosterman, Jai Potter and Ally Ansley teamed up for third in the 200 medley relay. In the 500 freestyle, Norah Klosterman finished second. The 200 free relay of Avery Mitchell, Camryn Klosterman, Ansley and Alix Davis placed third. And the 400 freestyle relay of Mitchell, Allie Eggleston, Norah Klosterman and Davis placed third.
Webb City also had four fourth-place finishes.
“All three relays getting on the podium was big because we swap kids out and try new lineups and it paid off big time,” Klosterman said. “I didn’t expect to get all three relays in the top three. Our divers were spectacular. Kelli Tollefson made her district score for the first time ever so that was pretty cool. Nora, my daughter, winning the 200 free was the highlight because she did it with a fifth-place seed and won by .02, it was super close. That was also fun because she almost stayed home from school today sick. Glad she didn’t do that. Alix Davis was really tough tonight and she wasn’t feeling well either but she turned in what we needed to score big.
“All three of the top teams were just solid and ourselves and CJ had a heck of a lot of move ups,” he said. “What’s amazing to me is how many of the swims were faster tonight than they were when we went to Mizzou last weekend. Just a couple days ago in the fastest pool in the state and they’re still knocking out faster times here because they’re excited about it. It’s just such a fun meet.”
Carl Junction, which won the COC championship in 2020 and 2021, came away with nine medals on the day. The Bulldogs also won four events.
Chloe Miller took home gold in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.24 seconds and won the 100 butterfly in 1:03.24. Elyanna Dogotch won the 100 free in 56.68 seconds. And the team of Elyanna Dogotch, Elsa Dogotch, Lilian Schultz and Miller won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.02.
Carl Junction’s other medalists were Schultz (3rd) in the 200 freestyle, Elyanna Dogotch (2nd) in the 50 freestyle, Schultz (3rd) in the 500 freestyle, Elsa Dogotch (2nd) in the 100 breaststroke and Elyanna Dogotch, Schultz, Avari Fifer and Miller (2nd) in the 400 freestyle relay.
Carthage had one champion and four second-place finishes. Olivia Manning won the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.44. The 200 medley relay was second with Aubree Santillan, Manning, Caelyn Samuelson and Kamryn Dininger swimming; Manning was second in the 200 IM; the 200 freestyle relay was second with Santillan, Dininger, Samuelson and Manning swimming; and Santillan was second in the 100 backstroke.
Nixa’s highlight was Lili Robison’s third-place showing in the 100 breaststroke, while Joplin’s top swimmer was Kiki Thom (3rd) in the 100 butterfly.
Team standings
Ozark 275
Webb City 249
Carl Junction 225
Nixa 164
Carthage 158
Joplin 104
Republic 66
