CENTRAL, ND SWIMMERS PREPARE FOR STATE

The area will be well represented during this weekend's Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Mo.

Cape Girardeau Central, as usual, qualified several athletes for the two-day meet. And Notre Dame also had several state qualifiers during its inaugural season of competition.

Action will begin at 4 p.m. Friday with swimming preliminaries. Saturday's activities will start at 9 a.m. with diving, followed by the swimming finals at 3 p.m.

Cape Central

The Lady Tigers' four individual qualifiers are led by standout senior Mary Beth Owen, an eight-time all-stater who overcame a leg stress fracture that kept her out until the final few meets of the regular season.

Owen, third in the 500-yard freestyle last year after placing third in two events as a sophomore, qualified in several individual events. Athletes are allowed to compete in just four events total, so she will participate in the 500 freestyle and on Central's three qualifying relay teams.

"Mary Beth doesn't feel like she's where she needs to be, but she'll still be very competitive in the 500," said Central coach Dayna Powell. "She's come back real well from the injury and she's just had a tremendous career for us."

Central's other individual swimming qualifier is junior Terra Herzberger, who will compete in the 100 butterfly after attaining her first individual state cut in the Lady Tigers' last meet of the regular season, against Notre Dame. Herzberger will also swim on all three relays.

Senior Sara Sprigg will compete in diving for the third straight year. She virtually rewrote the school's record book in her specialty.

"I feel like Sara has got the best chance of any diver we've had to score at the state meet," Powell said.

Rounding out Central's individual qualifiers is senior diver Becky Keller, who made her first state cut in the next-to-last meet of the regular season.

Senior Casey Brennan will join Owen and Herzberger in swimming on the Lady Tigers' 200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay squads. Sophomore Katie Maginel will be on the 200 medley and 400 freestyle units while freshman Cassie Kipper rounds out the 200 freestyle group.

Notre Dame

The Lady Bulldogs' first-ever state group will be led by junior Lindsay Kuper, who qualified in five individual events and two relays. She'll compete in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle while also swimming legs on Notre Dame's two qualifying relay teams.

Sophomore Ali Tyson is Notre Dame's other individual qualifier as she made the cut in the 100 breaststroke.

Kuper, Tyson and freshman Janelle Essner will all compete on the Lady Bulldogs' 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay squads. Notre Dame coach Lenny Kuper said he has not yet decided who will round out the relay units for state competition; senior Stefanie Campos, junior Sarah Unterreiner and freshman Rachel Ruopp are all vying for spots on the teams.

"Being a first-year program, I'm very pleased to get the people through to state that we did," Kuper said. "We had some very good times and the girls worked very hard, and not just the ones who are going to state."