CHS TIGERS TREAD INTO STATE WATERS

There seems to be a problem with giving credit where credit is due on the Cape Central swimming team.

Ask the swimmers and they'll tell you that their coach Dayna Powell deserves all the praise for the Tigers' best season in nine years.

But ask Powell, and this group of swimmers is simply something special and the swimmers deserve all the credit.

Either way, the swimming team comprised of 11 seniors is bound for the state meet today at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters and, if all goes well, will finish in the top 10.

Four swimmers -- seniors Jason Owen, Eric Yount, Zach Roberts and Ben Roeger -- will compete in individual events after eclipsing state qualifying times during the regular season.

The team will also field three relay teams.

"I've never had a group like this," said Powell. "They have all worked so hard and it's been such a great season. They're all good students. You just don't get a team like this very often.

"I call them believers. They don't tell me `I don't like doing this or doing that'. Everything I say they do and they believe what I tell them. And a lot of times I don't even have to tell them."

Without being prodded, Central's swimmers reflected that admiration.

"It's been the best four years of my life," Roeger said. "The coaches have been excellent. They really understood where we were coming from."

"Our coaches (tell us to) have fun and work hard," said Yount. "(Powell) is the nicest coach I've ever had. I've never had a better coach in my entire life in any sport and my dad was my coach in baseball."

"We've got a great coach," Owen said. "We're all graduating and we've all had a great time swimming. We're going to miss coach."

All the sentimentality aside, the swimmers still have to perform today.

Yount and Owen figure to key Central's success. Owen, who earned a scholarship to attend Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, went undefeated in every event that he competed in during the season.

In fact, the senior hasn't lost a regular-season event since his sophomore year. Nonetheless, he has never taken first place at state. He was the runner-up in both the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle last year. This year, the versatile Owen will compete in the 200 free and the 100 backstroke.

Yount is coming off an undefeated season in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events and is hoping to finish in the top three, especially in the 50.

Roberts will compete in the 200 free and the 100 backstroke.

Roeger, a team captain, will swim the 100 butterfly. He has qualified for state three times but has yet to make the first cut and swim the second day.

"We've all got really good chances this year," Roeger said. "This is the best team I've been on in four years. We've got the motivation for state because we have eight swimmers competing and six of them are seniors. So for six of us, this is it."

In the relays, Central exhibits its strongest teams in the 200 medley and the 400 freestyle.

Roeger (back), Jon Lowrance (breaststroke), Owen (butterfly) and Yount (freestyle) will combine their talents in the medley.

"I think we have a very solid chance to be one of the top three or four teams in the state," Roeger said of the medley relay.

In the 400 free, Yount, Roeger and Owen will team up with Stratton Tingle today and, assuming that they make the cut and advance, will join Andrew Skinner on Saturday.

"Our season is real sprint-oriented," Powell said. "So to have someone like Eric and Jason who can sprint a 50 and a 100, it puts us in there with a lot of the (top) teams."

Central's other relay event is the 200 freestyle, where twins Andrew and Nathan Skinner, Tingle and Lowrance will compete.

Collectively, Powell would like the Tiger swimming team to improve upon last year's 14th-place finish. There are usually about 60 teams statewide which compete.

"Our goal is to be in the top 10," Powell said. "If we have good swims in our relays, we should be okay to do that."