Jackson's Hobbs wins 500 freestyle at City of Roses swimming meet

Jackson co-coach Carol Baugh said Allison Hobbs has been working on her 500-yard freestyle for weeks.

That work paid off as Hobbs took first place in the event at the eighth annual City of Roses Invitational held at Central Municipal Pool.

Hobbs was seeded second and more than 8 seconds behind top-seeded Megan Popp from Rockwood Summit. Hobbs took an early lead, but with 50 yards to go, Popp had closed within a shoulder-length.

"Whenever I saw her, I think it was about lap 15, she was trying to catch back up to me, and I knew that the last 50 I just had to sprint it," Hobbs said. "That's all I had going through my mind at that point."

Hobbs took the lead at the final turn and held on for the win in 5 minutes, 19.87 seconds.

Notre Dame's Jackie Bader competes in the 500-yard freestyle Saturday.

"It was a very exciting race," Hobbs said.

"She already had the state cut, and she swam that one 6 seconds quicker, and we're really excited," Baugh said. "The last 50 was good. It was impressive. She finished really nice. It was exciting for all of us."

Two events later, Hobbs was back in the water for the 100 backstroke.

"In that one, I was really exhausted from the 500, so I got out and I just did the best I could," she said.

Her best was good enough for sixth place with a state-qualifying time of 1:04.24, more than 3 seconds faster than her seed time.

Jackson's Katie Garner competes in the 100 yard backstroke Saturday, January 23, 2010 during the City of Roses Invitational at the Cape Central Bubble. (LAURA SIMON)

The Indians, who finished ninth as a team, had eight individual top-16 finishes.

Sophomore Kyleigh Troxel came in sixth and qualified for state in the 100 butterfly.

Shelby McCord finished 10th in the 200 freestyle, while Katie Garner tied for ninth in the 100 backstroke.

"Our goal for coming into this meet was definitely to drop time individually and a team as a whole," Jackson co-coach Ashley Reinagel said. "Almost every single one of our swimmers has already cut time, so it's been going great."

Notre Dame finished 11th, with Lauren Castleman and Morgan Morris earning the top finishes for the Bulldogs.

Central's Katlynn Dodd, second from right, takes her mark before the 100-yard backstroke during the City of Roses Invitational on Saturday. (LAURA SIMON)

Castleman placed sixth in the 50 freestyle and fifth in the 100 freestyle.

Morris took sixth in the 200 freestyle and came in 11th in the 50 freestyle.

"We wanted the girls that were close to their state cuts to have a chance to swim the events that they were hoping to get state cuts in," Notre Dame coach Pat Kuper said. "Lauren had a really good 100, really happy about that."

Host Central finished 13th with 48 points.

Lizzie Schmidt took sixth in the 100 breaststroke, dropping more than a second and a half off her seed time.

"Our breaststroker, Lizzie, had a great swim," Central coach Dayna Powell said. "We've had a lot of people have great swims."

Schmidt also took 16th in the 100 butterfly, while senior Mary Catherine Ford finished 15th in the 100 freestyle.

"Our goal in this meet every year is just to swim better times than what we come in," Powell said. "It's a good time in our season where we've had some meets and the girls need a base to know, here's what I've been doing, and try to bring it down. This is a great barometer on how we're doing as far [as] training and how they're swimming. We always swim well in our own pool, and the competition just brings that to the forefront even more."

The City of Roses Invitational is one of the largest meets in the state, featuring 18 teams from as far as Springfield, Mo.

"The thing for me as a coach is to look out tonight and see these teams from across the state in our pool swimming," Powell said. "It gives the opportunity for teams to come to a really nice pool. If you're not a swimmer, these can be really boring, but to see the excitement of all the noise in here build up, it's really exciting. I'm just thrilled we have a facility that holds this."

Team results -- 1. MICDS 300; 2. Parkway North 298; 3. Hannibal 252; 4. Parkway Central 1 242.5; 5. Lindbergh 208; 6. Glendale 184; 7. Webster Groves 160; 8. Rockwood Summit 146; 9. Jackson 142; 10. Springfield Central 118; 11. Notre Dame 83; 12. Eureka 81; 13. Cape Central 48; 14. Parkway Central 2 20; 15. St. Vincent 16.5; 16. U-City 16; 17. U-City B Team 4.

Local top-16 finishers

200 medley relay -- 7. Jackson (Katie Garner, Kyleigh Troxel, Jenny Powell, Allison Hobbs) 2:02.70; 10. Central (Chleo LeGrand, Lizzie Schmidt, Sydney Ozbun, Mary Catherine Ford) 2:11.07; 13. Notre Dame (Ava Andersson, Audrey Glover, Jackie Bader, Eva Schaefer) 2:17.60.

200 freestyle -- 6. Morgan Morris (ND) 2:05.86; 10. Shelby McCord (J) 2:10.48.

50 freestyle -- 6. Lauren Castleman (ND) 26.44; 11. Morgan Morris (ND) 26.77; T-14. Anna Esswein (SV) 27.23.

Diving -- 11. Claire Gillard (J) 6.00; 15. LeGrand (C) 2.00; 16. Mallory Siebert (ND) 1.00.

100 butterfly -- 6. Troxel (J) 1:03.80; 12. Powell (J) 1:06.51; 16. Schmidt (C) 1:10.09.

100 freestyle -- 5. Castleman (ND) 57.53; 15. Ford (C) 1:00.63.

500 freestyle -- 1. Hobbs (J) 5:19.87; 15. Bader (ND) 6:18.61.

200 freestyle relay -- 10. Jackson (McCord, Powell, Sydney Stein, Hobbs) 1:51.61; 11. Notre Dame (Morris, Kate Bohn, Glover, Castleman) 1:52.48; 13. Central (Lilli Robinson, Molly Kinder, Breauna Givens, Alyssa Coots) 2:12.28.

100 backstroke -- 6. Hobbs (J) 1:04.24; T-9. Garner (J) 1:07.17.

100 breaststroke -- 5. Esswein (SV) 1:14.03; 6. Schmidt (C) 1:14.70; 9. Troxel (J) 1:16.85; 16. Stein (J) 1:20.96.

400 freestyle relay -- 8. Jackson (McCord, Garner, Stein, Troxel) 4:04.62; 10. Notre Dame (Castleman, Bohn, Glover, Morris) 4:06.26; 13. Central (LeGrand, Sydney Ozbun, Schmidt, Ford) 4:21.77.