On Friday, February 22nd, the 2014 girls swimming state meet kicked off at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Missouri, bringing the best high school swimmers statewide all under one roof. Parkway Central was well represented, and did well in the first day of competition.

The first day (prelims) determines who will swim in the Saturday finals. The top 16 finishers have a guaranteed spot in finals and the 17th and 18th place finishers are sent as alternates. It is a huge honor to get to come back for finals, and the Colts will be sending swimmers back in multiple events. The medley relay of Madison Brown, Annika Hofer, Elaine Reichert, and Courtney Nall placed 10th in prelims with a 1:52:11. The 400 free relay of Courtney Nall, Rachel Morris, Taylor Burlis, and Madison Brown placed 12th with a 3:44:68 (over a two second drop from their seed time). Both relays hope to move up their place in finals.

Courtney Nall placed 4th in the 50 free with a 24:28 and 11th in the 100 free with a 53:55. Both were personal best times for Nall. Elaine Reichert will be the first alternate in the 100 breast, swimming a 1:10:91 yesterday. Madison brown is 14th in the 100 fly with a 1:00:08 and 5th in the 100 back with a 58:82. Freshman Annika Hofer made state in three events as a freshman, an impressive feat. She competed in the 100 breast, 200 medley, and the 200 free relay. Senior Kelilah Liu made state in the 100 fly and 100 back.

Overall, the team’s results were excellent. There were many best times (relay and individual) and the team expects to have a top ten overall finish this year, an improvement over last year’s 12th place.