By Brock Sisney (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MONETT — The Monett Lady Cubs parlayed their superior team depth into a Big 8 Conference title Tuesday night at their home venue, the Ginny and Chris Fuldner Family Aquatics Center inside the Monett Area YMCA.
Monett swam away with the title, finishing with 361 overall points. Nevada finished second at 271, Rogersville third at 233, Lamar fourth at 205, and Marshfield fifth at 109.
“Truly a team effort,” Monett head coach Charles LaGarce said. “We set out to swim well in every event possible and we focused on placing and swimming our best swims here at our home pool for the conference championship. We hoped that everything else would take care of itself if we just came in prepared and worked hard.
“We’re trying to be well-rounded. Our Big 8 record-breaking relay was a freshman, a sophomore, a junior, and a senior. We are trying to build a freshman into the program and continue with upperclassmen making that happen. We’re trying to make sure that we do it together and everybody steps up, and we don’t depend on just one or two. The results are much better when that happens.”
LaGarce mentioned a Big 8 record happened Tuesday for the Lady Cubs and it came during the 400-yard freestyle relay, the last event of the evening. Abigail Apostol, Ava Fritts, Claire Nation, and Faith Drewianka truly capped off a conference title in style with a time of 4 minutes, 2.48 seconds.
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The Lady Cubs also won first in the 200 freestyle and placed third in the 200 medley. Gwen Lesue, Fritts, Nation, and Drewianka posted a winning time of 1:49.95.
“I think we’re ready for SWMO and state cuts,” LaGarce said. “We’re on the bubble in one, we’ve already got two, and hoping this is going to carry over into preparing for SW and an opportunity to go to state and represent our school.”
The SWMO Girls Championships are on Feb. 5 in Springfield.
Lamar’s quartet of Meghan Watson, Aubrey Osterdyk, Emma Tennal, and Kaitlyn Davis won the 200 medley in 2:01.84, besting Rogersville by nearly 2 seconds. Rogersville’s Alana Potter, Camille Johnson, Maddie Atwood, and Brenna Vinson improved upon their previous best by nearly 5 seconds.
Atwood won the 200 freestyle in 2:03.26, Davis took second in 2:06.52, and Fritts, Ruby George, and Grace Lee finished third, fourth, and fifth to accumulate 31 points for the Lady Cubs’ cause.
Osterdyk won the 200 individual medley in 2:39.46 and three Lady Cubs finished in the top six — Apostol third in 2:46.47, Emma Hunter fifth in 2:58.64, and Jenn Hurst sixth in 3:07.69, bringing the Lady Cubs 31 more points for their final tally.
Drewianka won the 50 freestyle in 26.15 and three other Lady Cub swimmers joined her in the top six. Nation placed third in 27.43, Lesue fourth in 27.74, and Sydney Parrigon sixth in 29.48, and the 50 freestyle resulted in 48 points for the Lady Cubs, nearly a point per yard.
In three events alone, Monett totaled 110 points. That’s how titles are won.
Watson won top honors in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.03, besting Atwood’s 1:02.08. A few events later, Watson dominated in the 100 backstroke, winning it by more than 10 seconds with her 1:02.02 time nearly a second better than her seed time.
Davis and Drewianka had an epic battle in the 100 freestyle, and the Lamar senior came away on top with a Big 8 record time of 57.02. Drewianka finished in 57.88.
Fritts and Rogersville freshman Alana Potter had their own fierce competition in the 500 freestyle, and Fritts edged Potter by a truly narrow margin, 5:56.57 to 5:57.06.
Marshfield senior Maggie Groenke won the 100 breaststroke — the final individual event of the evening — in 1:13.94.
Tuesday night started with the diving competition — Nevada’s Laura Kimmell dominated with a final score of 344.40 and eight of her 11 overall dives scored at least 30, with her best score 44.85 on her third dive.
