Eureka freshman Lily Harrell was all smiles as she breathlessly described her championship podium finish in the Class 2 portion of the 43rd annual Girls Swimming and Diving Championship.
Harrell finished fifth in the in the 200-yard individual medley race in a time of 2:09.5. Rock Bridge senior Nicole Williams won the event in 2:03.43.
“It’s exciting,” Harrell said. “It is such a difficult race, but I got through it. I had the best time of my life. I’m just so happy and so proud.”
Eureka placed 13th as a team with 64 points, and Rock Bridge won the 31-team event with 289 points.
“The group really performed exceptionally well,” Eureka head coach Nate Kortuem said. “I couldn’t be happier finishing 13th in such a deep field. It was phenomenal to see them step up and make A or B finals and swim their best.”
Harrell remained busy on the final day of the state meet. The preliminary round was held Feb. 16.
The freshman swam the 100 backstroke, finishing third in the consolation round and 11th overall in 59.43 seconds. Cor Jesu junior Karisa Franz won the event in 56.49.
She was also a member of Eureka’s 200 medley relay team. Harrell teamed with senior Megan McSalley, sophomore Ciara Hynes and sophomore McKinley Munk to finish third in the consolation final and 11th overall with a 1:54.11 The event was won by Rock Bridge with a 1:46.36.
Harrell also swam with freshman Emma Harris, Hynes and McSalley on the 400 free relay team. Eureka finished third in the consolation final and 11th overall with a 3:42.85 as Lafayette won the event in 3:29.65.
“We were excited to be in the second day,” Harrell said. “We were sore, but we were happy to be here.
Freshman Emma Harris also competed in an individual event on the final day, swimming in the consolation final of the 500 free. The freshman finished sixth in her round with a 5:20.73 and 14th overall in the event that was won in 5:00.38 by Hickman junior Grace Beahan.
Eureka swimmers also competed in numerous events in the preliminaries.
The Wildcats’ 200 free relay team just missed the consolation cut with a 1:44.50 finish. The highest time to advance to the final day was Central (Springfield)’s 1:44.43.
In the 200 free, Harris finished with a 1:59.02 and freshman Erica Mock had a 2:01.93. The cut to advance was 1:58.21.
Freshman Anna Lombardo had a 1:02.99 in the 100 butterfly, but the cut to advance was 1:00.40, and freshman Mackenzie Swope competed in the 500 free on the first day but her 5:33.66 didn’t meet the cut of 5:21.21.
McSalley swam to a 1:01.30 in the 100 backstroke, but the cut to advance was 1:00.33.
This was the first year the Missouri State High School Activities Association divided the swimming and diving championship meet into two classes.
For more on the Class 2 state swimming championship, read Thursday’s Eureka Leader.