Central's Kinder takes two seconds in sprint events

~ The Tigers junior was runner-up in the 50 and 100 freestyle.

ST. PETERS, Mo. -- The rest of the state be warned: 2007 could be the year for Hannah Kinder.

At last year's Missouri State High School Activities Association Girls Swimming and Diving Championships, Kinder finished third in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyles.

At Saturday's state meet at the St. Peters Rec-Plex, the Central junior moved up one spot in each race to claim a pair of second place medals.

So, naturally the progression would beÉ

"First place next year," Kinder said. "I've only been swimming about two years, so maybe if I get some more yards in me, I'll be faster next year."

The 17 points Kinder scored in each event accounted for all 34 points Central garnered Saturday, tying them with Kickapoo and St. Joseph's Academy for 18th place.

The only girls swimmer in the state faster than Kinder in the 50 and 100 is Tarin Corwin. The Blue Springs sophomore captured both events for the second straight year, but in each race Kinder was right behind.

In the 50-free, Corwin finished with a time of 23.39 seconds, breaking the state record she set in Friday's preliminary round. Kinder's time of 23.71 was good enough to allow her to squeeze past Lafayette's Marisa Rodriguez for second. Rodriguez finished second in the event last year.

"Marisa and I were so close. I'm happy with second," Kinder said. "My start felt good. I think I made the Junior National cut, 23.79 was the cut."

Tigers coach Dayna Powell was happy with Kinder's second place finish, but even more thrilled with her time.

"The place is important, but she had some goals in mind with her time and she made the Junior National cut by several hundredths of a second," Powell said. "Sometimes if we focus more on state champion, state champion, we lose sight of some of the other stuff."

The 100-free was a bit closer, as Corwin again broke the state record she set in Friday's preliminaries with a 51.04, while Kinder scored a 51.32.

That race came not long after Kinder had just wrapped up swimming the 50.

"I'm really happy with my time, but I think I could have gone a lot faster. I just got out the pool from swimming the 50 and I was still pretty tired," she said. "USSA meets are never this fast. There's a lot more rest between each one. I had like 10 minutes after I got out of the pool."

Kinder's time in both races Saturday would have been good enough to win the state title in both events at last year's state meet.

"That's the hard thing about this to think she'd have won it last year," Powell said. "But at the same time, this isn't supposed to be easy."

In each race, Kinder turned on the jets down the stretch to earn her second-place finishes.

"Her finish was just remarkable," Powell said. "I still think between the walls Hannah was better. At the wall, maybe because Tarin is a little more compact, she can get around."

Menz second in consolation

Right before Kinder competed in the 100-free championship finals, Notre Dame's Brittany Menz swam in the 100-free consolation finals and finished second, which made her tenth overall and gave the Bulldogs seven team points, tying them with Fort Zumwalt South for 34th place.

"It was a little nerve-wracking because I didn't know what to expect, but I think I did pretty well," Menz said.

Menz was the only freshman to make it into the top 16 in the 100-free and her experience is already rubbing off on her teammates.

"The other girls have already decided they are gonna do whatever it takes to try to get here next year as an individual. She inspired them, which is a good thing," Notre Dame coach Pat Kuper said. "She dropped three-tenths of a second from her prelim time, so we were really pleased about that. She's only beaten that time once in a relay."

Menz also swam the anchor leg for the Tigers' 200-free relay team that finished 17th at state and the 400-free relay team that finished 19th.