WEBB CITY, Mo. — Led by a number of stellar performances, and with its overall team depth on full display, Carl Junction’s girls repeated as team champions at the Central Ozark Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on Tuesday night at Webb City’s Buck Miner Swim Center.
The Bulldogs finished on top of the team standings with 307 points.
Carl Junction coach Stephanie Miller noted it was a memorable night for her Bulldogs, who concluded a long day by posing for photos with the COC championship plaque.
“This was great,” Miller said. “I love the competition and the close races. I’m really proud of the girls. It’s sometimes harder to come in and defend a title, so I’m really proud of them. It was a lot of fun.”
Carl Junction won six events and took second in two others. The Bulldogs also swam some record-setting times along the way.
“It’s just a blessing,” Miller said. “My whole team was in the water tonight. No one was in quarantine. Everyone’s healthy, so I’m just so thankful for that. It’s just a blessing to be in the pool. We’re not taking that for granted.”
Carl Junction’s depth showed, as the Bulldogs scored big points in nearly every event.
“I’ve got 18 girls and I’m pretty sure all but two scored points tonight, which is phenomenal,” Miller said. “That’s just amazing. We won a lot of races, but when we didn’t win, we still recorded our best times.”
Carthage took second with 259 points.
“We performed OK,” Carthage coach Braden McBride said. “We had some personal bests and I was proud of that. We were a swimmer short, but I don’t think it would have made a ton of difference. Carl Junction is just loaded. But I thought we did pretty well overall. We saw some improvements. They’re all getting better.”
Webb City finished third with 202 points.
“For the most part, I thought we did fantastic,” Webb City coach Shawn Klosterman said of his team’s showing. “There was a lot of very inspired swimming. It feels good. This is always an exciting meet. They always get inspired. I love it. It was nice to see some lifetime bests out of some kids. We weren’t expecting those until the state meet. There were just so many time drops.”
Ozark (186), Nixa (150), Republic (78) and Joplin (75) rounded out the standings.
CARL JUNCTION RESULTS
The Bulldogs won all three relays.
“We loaded our relays tonight and had some girls do all three,” Coach Miller said. “I haven’t done that before. But we have good relays and they have fun, so why not?”
Carl Junction’s 200-yard medley relay team of Skyler Sundy, Abigail Wilson, Sophia Hensley and Alanza Montez recorded a state-qualifying time of 1 minute, 57 seconds.
The 200 freestyle relay featured Emma Lacey, Montez, Sundy and Chloe Miller and also swam a qualifying time of 1:43. The time is a COC record and a new pool record.
Carl Junction’s 400 freestyle relay capped a stellar meet for the Bulldogs. Swimming the relay were Chloe Miller, Montez, Sundy and Lacey. Their time of 3:51 is a COC record and was also a pool record.
Chloe Miller, Lacey and Sundy all won individual events.
Miller touched the wall first in the 200 freestyle in 2:02, while Lacey won the 50 freestyle in 25.95. Both swam state-consideration times.
Sundy’s winning time of 1:01 in the 100 backstroke is not only a state-qualifying mark, but also a COC record.
Miller was the runner-up in the 500 freestyle, while Lacey and Wilson took second and third in the 100 breaststroke. Lacey swam a state-qualifying time in the breaststroke (1:09.6).
Madeleine Garoutte took third in the 100 butterfly, with Hensley fourth in the same event. Carsyn Smith was fourth in the 100 backstroke.
Also for the Bulldogs, Montez took sixth in the 50 free, Carsyn Smith was sixth in the 200 free, while Hensley and Wilson finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 200 individual medley.
Abigail Holcomb finished seventh in the 500 free, with Kennedy Johnson eighth, while Bryn Neria was ninth in the 100 freestyle.
Carl Junction’s Abigail Holcomb competes during Tuesday’s COC swim meet at Webb City. Photo by Israel Perez.
CARTHAGE RESULTS
Carthage’s Madison Riley won the 100 butterfly with a consideration time of 1:02.
The Tigers were second in two relays, the 200 medley and the 400 freestyle.
Riley, Aubree Santillan, Nadya Housh and Hope Fultz competed in the medley, with Riley, Cassidy Smith, Housh and Fultz swimming the freestyle.
Santillan and Riley placed second and third in the 100 backstroke.
Smith took third in the 100 freestyle and Fultz was fifth.
Housh and Ava Lacey took third and fourth in the 500 free, while Housh placed third in the 200 IM, with Santillan fifth.
Lacey and Fultz finished fourth and fifth in the 200 free. Smith was fifth in the 50 free, Victoria Martinez took fifth in the 100 fly, while the Tigers finished fifth in the 200 free relay (Smith, Santillan, Martinez, Lacey).
WEBB CITY RESULTS
Sophia Whitesell won the 500-yard freestyle in a state-consideration time of 5:32.
“Sophia was on fire tonight,” Klosterman said. “She kind of surprised me tonight in the 500. She’s never gone that fast. It was a lifetime best.”
Whitesell also placed second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:19.
Skylar Powell finished third in the 50 free and was fourth in the 100 free.
Webb City’s 200 medley relay team of Ella Holt, Makenzie Storm, Whitesell and Olivia Honey placed third.
The Cardinals were fourth in the 200 freestyle relay, with Powell, Holt, Hally Philpot and Avery Mitchell competing.
Webb City was also fourth in the 400 free relay, with Powell, Philpot, Mitchell and Whitesell swimming.
Also for the Cardinals, Holt was fifth in the 100 backstroke, Storm took fifth in the 100 breaststroke, Philpot placed sixth in the 100 free, while Mitchell was seventh in the 50 free and the 100 breaststroke.
In the diving competition, Webb City’s Kyndie Crockett was the runner-up with a score of 275.5.
JOPLIN RESULTS
The Eagles placed fourth in the 200 medley relay, with Mairi Beranek, Taegen Smith, Allie Lawrence and Mya Johnson competing.
Joplin’s team of Lawrence, Sophia Schwartz, Ava Perrin and Johnson were sixth in the 200 freestyle relay, while Lily Rakes, Schwartz, Beranek and Perrin placed sixth in the 400 freestyle relay.
Beranek finished ninth in the 100 backstroke, with Schwartz 12th.
Smith was ninth in the 100 breaststroke, while Megan Walser and Rakes were 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 500 freestyle.
Kennedy Schwartz finished 11th in the 100 butterfly, Lawrence was 12th in the 100 free, Rakes finished 13th in the 200 free and Smith was 13th in the 200 IM.
MEET NOTES
Nixa’s Lillie Blevins was the diving champ with a state-qualifying score of 388.65.
Republic’s Karissa Metzger won the 100 breaststroke in a COC record and state-qualifying time of 1:09. The time was faster than the previous pool record that was set in 1984.
“There were a lot of impressive times,” Klosterman said, noting several records. “That just says a lot about our conference. It’s getting better. I love seeing the close races and there were a lot of close races for first place tonight. And that’s just so fun to watch.”
This was the third year the conference held an official girls swim meet. Webb City won the inaugural event in 2019 and Carl Junction won it last year.
No fans were allowed at this year’s event, but Webb City hosted a live stream of the meet.
“It’s hard to have a meet with no spectators, but I think the atmosphere here was still pretty darn good and the racing went great,” Klosterman said. “I hope there were a lot of people watching from home.”
