The girls swim team overcame an early disqualification and ended up placing eighth in State with four podium finishes, including a State champion, at the State meet on Feb. 17-18 at the St. Peters Rec-Plex.
“Hearing that our relay was disqualified was heartbreaking,” senior swimmer Annika Hofer said. “But I think that all of us were able to turn our hurt and frustration into positive energy for the rest of our events. Overall, think we did really well and gave it everything we had.”
The State meet was split up into two days: preliminary qualifiers on Friday, and then finals on Saturday. The team had high hopes for the meet with seven swimmers competing in 12 different events on Friday, but an early mistake threatened to spoil the entire meet.
The first event of the day was the 200-yard medley relay, one of the girls’ best events. The team of Hofer, Madison Brown, Abby Levine and Alexis Poe had set the school record for it last year and had won it almost every time they swam it this season.
“Going into State, we were excited, confident and ready to break the school record again,” Hofer said.
And they did just that. Their time of 1:48.52 during the qualifiers was almost two full seconds faster than last year’s record time and would have been good enough to give them the fourth seed entering the finals. However after the race, it was announced that Brown had flinched just before the gun, resulting in their disqualification from the event.
“It was devastating,” Brown said. “I felt like I let my whole team down, and I cried for a few minutes.”
Coach Jennifer Meyer came to her aid and tried to rally the team for their upcoming races.
“It was about an hour of motivation,” Meyer said. “I focused on moving on and using their feelings and channeling them to their remaining races. I told them that you’re a team and you love each other and that this happens sometimes and you have to put it behind you.”
After Meyer’s speech, the team qualified for the finals in eight of their 13 remaining races.
Brown started Saturday off with a seventh place podium finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a school record-setting time of 0:27.15, but the highlight of the day was her victory in the 100-yard backstroke with another school record of 0:55.49.
“It was a surreal moment, and I will never forget it,” Brown said. “Especially when all the coaches and my friends came up to me congratulating me and giving me hugs.”
Meyer had nothing but praise watching the senior bounce back from the day before and become a State champion.
“I was jumping and screaming and crying,” Meyer said. “Four years ago I told her that she could win this race, and it was amazing to see her work so hard and have it come true.”
But the celebrations didn’t stop there. Hofer and Levine got on the podium together for the 100-yard breaststroke, placing third and fifth (respectively) with times of 1:05.00 and 1:05.95.
“In practice we raced and pushed each other to go faster each day,” Hofer said. “It was awesome to see both of our hard work pay off and to have both of us representing Parkway Central in the top eight.”
Levine, a freshman, was not fazed by the crowd and pressure of a State meet.
“The atmosphere was amazing, and it was exhilarating knowing that I was able to swim with fast people who have lots of experience,” Levine said.
Junior Shelby Ripp was not as satisfied with her performance as she raced in four events on Friday but did not swim personal bests and only qualified for finals in the one relay.
“Although I didn’t have my best day, I was still so happy for my teammates and I’ll learn from this experience and work harder on the little things for next year,” Ripp said.
Ripp, Poe, Levine and many more will be back next year competing again for State, but for seniors Brown and Hofer, this State meet was their last.
“It was bittersweet,” Brown said. “I will definitely miss those girls a lot. They changed my life in the best way possible. I’m just glad I left my high school swimming career on a high.”
Both swimmers will leave a legacy on the team for years to come. With a combined three school records, 20 State finals and 13 State podium finishes, they are two of the most successful swimmers in school history.
“When I looked up at the crowd and saw my parents smiling, I felt proud of myself and all I’ve accomplished,” Hofer said.
Next year Hofer will be swimming at Truman State University and Brown will be swimming at Missouri State University.