Jackson's Palmer wins girls swimming state crown in 50 freestyle

ST. PETERS, Mo. -- Caitlyn Palmer couldn't believe what had just happened and she was overcome by the moment.

The Jackson junior swimmer emerged from the St. Peters Rec-Plex pool with tears streaming down her face after looking up at the board and realizing what she had just done. She became that very rare eighth seed to win a state title by shocking the whole building -- herself included -- in winning the 50-yard freestyle title Saturday at the Missouri State High School Activities Association Swimming and Diving Championships.

"I was honestly astonished," Palmer said. "I swim against the girl who got second (Kristen Petersen of Parkway West), and I figured she was going to go sub-24 (seconds) and win it. When I saw I got first, it was pure excitement and relief."

Palmer also became the first girls swimming state champion in Jackson history.

"This is big. In fact, I'm still shaking," Indians coach Carole Baugh said. "We've had several all-state swimmers, but she was making history. We are all excited."

Palmer finished the 50-free in 24.09 seconds, and there was a frenzied finish right behind her. Petersen had a 24.11. Summit Prep's Molly Moore was third with a 24.12, while Glendale's Kaylee Sisson (24.14) and Hazelwood West's Jessica Nichols (24.20) were also close behind.

All told, the top five finishers in the race were separated by a mere 11-hundredths of a second.

"The 50 is really fast. You want to do everything you can there because you have such a small margin for error," Baugh said. "She was really nervous coming into today, but yet she was composed at the same time. She had a really good start. Yesterday, her starts weren't as good. We talked about that last night, and she went out and had a really good start and she brought it on home."

After a 15-minute break, Palmer showed her title was no fluke when she participated in the very next race, the 100-yard butterfly, and again thumbed her nose at her No. 8 seed by finishing third.

That finish was actually a natural progression for Palmer, who was fifth in the 100-fly as a freshman and fourth last year.

"I was hoping for a first-place finish in that, but that turnaround from the 50-free to the fly was really quick. I wasn't fully rested," Palmer said. "The time I put up, I was alright with. I wish I would have done better, but I can't complain. I got third."

Palmer single-handedly gave Jackson a total of 36 team points, which was good enough for a 19th-place finish. And now she will enter next year's state meet with a new label -- defending champion.

"I'm ready to train for it and go even harder," she said. "I normally don't train for the 50 as much as I wish I would. But now that I'm state champion, that's what I'm going to be focusing on. Fly is my best stroke, but I proved myself as a sprinter, so now I've got two things to work on.

"It's all very surreal. It's just amazing that I can come here and represent my team in such a big way and make them proud. Hopefully, swimming will take off now and they'll realize it's a good sport because it's not very recognized."

Palmer was the only area swimmer to advance to the finals.

In Friday's preliminaries, Central's Josey Powell finished 33rd in the 200 individual medley in 2:18.39. She swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.86.

Megan Peters, of Notre Dame, swam the 200 freestyle in 2:00.14 and finished one spot ahead of teammate Madison Heisserer, who finished in 2:00.48. Peters also raced to a 17th-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:00.24, which was one spot shy of qualifying for finals. Heisserer placed 19th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:01.29.

Notre Dame's relay team of Peters, Heisserer, Schott and Amelia Coello placed 27th in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:46.19 and finished 24th in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:51.91.