Jackson girls swimmer qualifies for state in two events at City of Roses

Caitlyn Palmer had just two goals heading into her 11th swim meet of the season on Saturday.

Placing wasn't a big deal for Palmer. Instead, she was focused on trimming time off of her two main events -- 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly -- with the hope they would be good enough to guarantee her a qualifying spot at the state meet.

"I was just here to improve my state times. That's all I'm really worried about," Palmer said. "I'm not worried about placing. Placing is just something that's kind of out there right now. State is where the placing really matters, and to get there, you have to qualify in these kind of meets."

The Jackson junior showed no nerves and qualified for state in both events with a first-place finish in the 100 butterfly and second-place finish in the 50 freestyle at the girls swimming and diving City of Roses Invitational at the Central Municipal Pool.

"I'm very pleased with my time, That's the best time I've ever swam," Palmer said about the 50 freestyle. "And I'm not even fully ready for a swim meet yet, so there are still things I can do to get faster. It's a swimmer thing to shave your legs, and I haven't done that yet. And I'm not rested because I'm still in the heart of my training. So once I get rested and shave I'll go even faster."

Qualifying for state was a big accomplishment for Palmer, but it wasn't her only one at The Bubble. She had already experienced success in the 50 freestyle at the same event two years ago when she broke the school record as a freshman with a time of 24.88 seconds.

In her third trip, Palmer broke it again by shaving 4/10 of a second on her reach to the wall, which left her with a time of 28.84.

"Not really any nerves to be honest," Palmer said about her mood leading up to the 50 freestyle race. "I got my best split in the 50 fly of the relay, and so I started out on a good note, and I've just carried that. I'm kind of on cloud nine right now, just going with it and having fun. I still can't believe I broke it at all."

Palmer was positioned right next to eventual first-place finisher Leilani Mansy of Eureka in her 50 freestyle heat. Palmer stayed within inches of Mansy for much of the race, up until the final flip turn.

"Off the flip turn me and the girl that actually got first, we were both facing each other and we saw each other," Palmer said. "We both kicked off that wall at the same time, put our heads down and went. She barely out-touched me on this side by .13."

Despite missing first-place by such a slim margin, Palmer said she was just looking forward to the 100 butterfly at that point.

She ended up in first but said she almost blew the race in the final 50 yards.

Palmer said she could see the eventual second-place finisher closing in on her and added that her flip turn on the final wall wasn't her best. One final burst of energy carried her to the finish line.

"I almost made a really big mistake on that last wall," Palmer said about her 100 butterfly race. "My last wall, I didn't work it as good as I could've. I just kind of came up because I thought I needed air. But if I would've kicked out a lot better and not come up, then I would've gone at least sub 58 [seconds]. I'm also glad I had just enough to widen the gap between me and the girl who got second because she was getting pretty close. But I'm really happy with my time, and looking forward to conference so I can lower it even more."

Palmer's teammate, Sydney Deneke, was the only athlete from a Southeast Missouri school to compete in the 1 meter dive.

The Jackson junior had some doubts about if she would even finish in the top 16, but after cruising through 10 rounds, Deneke surprised herself with a score of 313.90, which was good for 10th place.

"It was pretty cool. I honestly din't expect to get that high because I am the only one from my school," Deneke said. "We don't have a lot of girls who do it down here, so for me to get that is pretty cool. I think the biggest thing was that I didn't let nerves get to me. I've been at this meet for two years, so I'm kind of used to the whole diving scene."

Jackson assistant swimming and diving coach Courtney Hanstein said Deneke looked good in her warmups and had confidence that she would impress in the final round.

"I'm pretty happy with 10th for her," Hanstein said. "There were a lot of strong competitors that she went up against, so 10th is good. She's pretty consistent and level-headed. Seeing some of them warm up yesterday may have intimidated her, but I think she faired away. She did good. Once she made it to the finals it was kind of like we knew she would at least get in the top 10."

Deneke missed qualifying for state by 115.90 points, but will keep striving to improve her dives. To do that, she'll practice more and watch diving videos.

"I watch a lot of YouTube videos on how to improve. That and a lot of practice is all it takes," Deneke said. "They do help me a lot. A lot of professional and college divers do a lot of dives really very differently. So I try and watch as many as I can and kind of put them all together."

Central junior Josey Powell was feeling a little nervous as she stepped on the block to compete in the 200-yard individual medley -- a race she had only been in a handful of times before.

Midway through her race, Powell set those nerves aside and sped to a third-place finish with a state qualifying time of 2 minutes, 17 seconds.

"I was a little nervous. I was trying to get in the state cut, and I knew I was seeded by someone that already had it, so I was just like, 'I have to stay with her,'" Powell said. "After swimming it four or five times trying to get it, I finally did. I started this event at the end of last year, and I really didn't think I would be close to it. But I just started dropping and came away with my best time. It feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. It's a relief."

Central swimming coach and Josey's mother, Dayna Powell, said she was proud of her daughter not only for qualifying but also for being the host school's first state qualifier in two years.

"Last year she was right at the cut for a couple of races, and we were hoping we would get it today," Dayna Powell said. "So to get it now and be that significantly under the cut, we were thrilled. She had played tennis this fall, and since tennis she has trained really hard. ... I was hoping it would happen today and so was she. Now she kind of has that weight off and she can go back and focus on some of her other events."

Notre Dame sophomore Megan Peters finished four seconds behind Powell, which was good for seventh place.

Peters did not have a qualifying time and said she would have liked to finish with a better time. Despite the loss, Peters was still excited to compete against new faces and familiar ones.

"It's so fun because you get to race girls from other cities. New and faster competition is always good," Peters said. "I try to race the girls in each event that I know I can keep pace with. My training partner for club is Josey Powell, and she had a great swim. She's been trying to get that state cut for a long time. It's funny because we train together every day, and we're friends. It's just intense, I guess, because you're friends and you get up on those blocks and you're just like, 'May the best girl win,' On race days we're still friends, but you still really want to beat each other."

Dayna Powell agreed and added that facing new competition can be good for all 22 schools once the state competition rolls around.

"To have this level of competition in our own town and our pool, it's just great," she said. "And we do have a fast pool. For the most part, the people that do come here have good races. On top of that, we and the other local schools learn a lot by just watching some of these faster swimmers that make the trip down here. Just seeing how they do their turns and their other techniques, I think just reinforces a lot of things in our girls' minds. One of our goals is, if we get to the state meet we want to see everybody that's been there. We don't want to get there and see a stranger. So these kind of meets really bring that caliber here. We've got five [schools] from Springfield, five from Columbia, nine from St. Louis and then our local schools. That's a huge advantage for everyone involved to see the competition now before we bring on the state meet."

Team scores -- 1. Rock Bridge 328.5, 2. Parkway South 273, 3. Hickman 251, 4. Parkway Central 226.5, 5. Eureka 201, 6. Parkway North 197.5, 7. Poplar Bluff 165, 8. Notre Dame 125, 9. Webster Groves 92, 10. Timberland 89, 11. Holt 81.5, 12. Cape Central 69, 13. Jackson 64, 14. Rock Bridge 2 39

Local top three finishers

200 individual medley ­-- 3. Josey Powell (C) 2:17.97.

50 freestyle -- 2. Caitlyn Palmer (J) 24.84.

100 butterfly -- 1. Caitlyn Palmer (J) 58.18.

500 freestyle -- 3. Madison Heisserer (ND) 5:26.74.

100 backstroke -- 1. Madison Hiesserer (ND) 1:00.60.