O’Fallon finishes second at Midwest Swim Conference Championship

The Highland Splash entered Saturday’s Midwest Swim Conference Championship at O’Fallon as the prohibitive favorite to repeat as the team champion, and they did not disappoint after separating themselves from the runner-up team by nearly 300 points by the time the season-ending meet came to a close.

After claiming the program’s first conference championship in the program’s 36-year history one year ago, Highland swam to a perfect, unbeaten regular season by going 11-0 in dual meets, before going on to add another chapter to the history books by repeating as Midwest Swim Conference champions.

Getting placements up and down the lineup, the Highland racked up an impressive final team score of 2,312 points to easily fend off the host O’Fallon Breakers, who finished in a distant second place at 2,033.5.

The rest of the conference combatants were left even further back in the Splash’s wake: St. Clair Country Club (1,656), Dorchester Dolphins (1,167), Freeburg Waves (1,007), Dupo Hilltoppers (784), Westhaven Waves (603.5), Scott Air Force Base Sharks (496).

“Our kids fought hard to the very end but when the final points were tallied we just fell short, Breakers Coach Kirsty Stooke said. “It was a great overall team effort and many of our kids achieved new best times. And while we would have preferred a team championship there’s no shame in placing second in this league. I’m already excited about next season with most of these kids coming back I think we’ll be strong once again.”

And actually, the score differential was less significant than it might appear as the Breakers were missing some key swimmers and the team also suffered at least two major setbacks as both the 8-under boys and 15-18 girls free relay squads were hit with disqualification slips.

So in the case of 15-18 girls, rather than earn 34 points for what would have been a second-place finish in that event they walked away with zero. That’s two years in a row the Breakers were hit with key relay DQs.

“Yes, those relays certainly didn’t help the cause,” Stooke added. “But let’s focus on the positive. We scored over 2,000 points for the second year in a row and obviously did a lot of things right. We set some new Breakers age-group records on the day and some of our swimmers earned high point trophies in their age group. So we had plenty to cheer about and we’re very proud of all our swimmers.”

In terms of those new Breakers age group records, Brian Hobbs set a new standard in the 13-14 boys 100-meter breast while Michael Meyer set a new mark in the 13-14 boys 100-meter backstroke.

Shelby Bushong set a new record in the 11-12 girls 50-meter back. In the relays, new records were set by the 12-under girls 100-meter medley relay squad of

Bushong, Julia Scherrer, Olivia Mussatto, and Ella Peterson – as well as the 13-14 boys 200 free relay foursome of Brian Hobbs, Noah Lang, Nick Oulvey and Michael Meyer.

Age Group High Point trophies — awarded by the Conference to the top point producers in the meet for each age group — were earned by Samantha Stooke (1 st 8-under girls), Ella Peterson (3rd 9-10 girls), Michael Stooke (1st 9-10 boys), Shelby Bushong (3rd 11-12 girls), Matthew Stooke (1st 11-12 boys), Michael Meyer (2nd 13-14 boys), and Sierra Workman (2nd 15-18 girls).

In terms of specific performances, five Breakers captured individual event championships. Samantha Stooke swept the field in the 8-under girls 25 free, 25 back, and 25 fly – while brothers Michael Stooke did the same in the 9-10 boys 25 free, 100 IM, and 25 back and Matthew Stooke captured titles in the 11-12 boys 100 IM, 50 back, and 50 fly. And in 13-14 boys, Michael Meyer bested the field in the 100 back while in 15-18 girls Sierra Workman captured a win in the 50 fly.

Relay wins were notched by the 12-under girls 100 medley relay squad of Bushong, Julia Scherrer, Olivia Mussatto, and Ella Peterson, as well as the 8-under 100 boys medley relay foursome of Michael Stooke, Will Richards, Matthew Stook, and Alex Hattan. Additional relay firsts were posted by the 8-under girls 100 free relay squad of Samantha Stooke, Edde Sue Doehring, Samantha Valentine, and Ryan Polson, and the 9-10 boys 100 free relay team of Michael Stooke, Camden Kimmel, Alex Hattan, and Brady Luetchefeld.

The 11-12 girls squad of Olivia Mussatto, Emmy Wallace, Mackenzie James and Bushong raced to a win in the 200 free relay.

With the season over, the Breakers can now look forward to another strong season next year.

“In addition to today’s performance, we did go 8-1 on the season in dual meets. And we do have a lot of good swimmers coming back next year,” Stooke said. “As always, we know that many of these kids will get better. So we’ll come back next summer, work hard and prepare for another fun and successful season. That’s the nature of this team - and why it’s so rewarding to coach these kids and this program.”

Shattering records

Highland shattered team records in 11 different individual events, led by 16-year-old Victoria Thomae.

No one from all eight teams was more special at the Midwest Conference Championships than Highland Splash swimmer Victoria Thomae, a 16-year-old who was the High Point champion in the girls 15-18 age division after sweeping all three of her individual events. Thomae not only won gold in her races, but she also shattered her own Splash team records in all three of her events:

▪  Girls 15-18 100-meter freestyle with a new standard-setting time of 1:00.3

▪ Girls 15-18 100-meter breaststroke with a new record-setting time of 1:16.6

▪ Girls 15-18 100-meter individual medley with a new standard-setting time of 1:10.5

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 10:38 AM with the headline "O’Fallon finishes second at Midwest Swim Conference Championship."