Jackson's Palmer wins two events at City of Roses swimming meet

The Jackson sophomore excelled at the elite 18-team swim meet

By SCOTT ROSCOVIUS

Special to Southeast Missourian

Caitlyn Palmer definitely made a splash last season with the Jackson swim team.

This season, the talented sophomore is picking up right where she left off.

Palmer, who finished fifth in the state in the 100-yard butterfly last year as a freshman, won that event along with the 200 individual medley at Saturday's City of Roses Girls Invitational in front of a standing room-only crowd at Central Municipal Pool.

The annual event, one of the largest invitational meets in Missouri, attracted 18 teams from around the state, many from the talent-rich area of St. Louis, which allowed the local squads competing to see how they measured up to the state's top talent.

The answer? Pretty well, considering the local schools competing -- Central, Jackson, Notre Dame and Perryville -- counted 17 individual or relay teams among the top eight finishers in 12 events.

Parkway Central of St. Louis won the meet with 322 points, barely trimming Parkway South, which was second at 314. Notre Dame was fourth, Jackson sixth, Central 13th and Perryville 16th.

Palmer was one of just two individuals with two titles. She swam a 2-minute, 12.23-second time in the 200 individual medley and a 58.74 in the 100 butterfly.

"I'm very happy," said Palmer, who also led off the Indians' 200 yard medley relay squad that placed fourth in the day's opening event. "I've been blessed by God with this talent, and I just love it. Swimming is my passion."

Jackson coach Carole Baugh said she hoped this meet would challenge Palmer, and she was happy with the result.

"We're really excited to see what she would do here today," Baugh said. "We knew that this meet would be a good one for her, really push her in some of her events. We were really looking to see what she was gonna do with that 200 IM, and 2:12, we were ecstatic over that."

Madison Heisserer, a sophomore from Notre Dame, came away with two second-place finishes, going 1:59.79 in the 200 freestyle and 5:22.62 in the 500 freestyle. She was also a member of the Bulldogs' 200 medley relay team that placed third in 2:01.54.

Freshman Megan Peters, also a member of that relay team, added a fourth in the 50 freestyle and fifth in the 100 butterfly.

"I've been in some big meets with my club team before, but it's exciting," Peters said. "It's high school. Something different. I did good today, but I'm looking forward to going faster in conference."

Baugh said one of the meet highlights was seeing three area teams -- Notre Dame (3rd), Jackson (4th) and Central (6th) -- among the top eight finishers in the 200 medley relay that kicked off the competition.

"That was exciting," said Central senior Josey Powell, who swam the backstroke, the first leg of the relay, for the Tigers. "I didn't think we would get a medal, honestly. But we dropped three seconds in our total time."

Perryville senior Natalie King placed second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 200 IM to pace the Pirates.

The hundreds of swimmers participating gave the huge crowd several moments to savor: from two divers from Parkway Central tying for first in the 1-meter diving competition, to sophomore Mikayla Kempf of Webster Grove surprising the field with a win in the 100 freestyle.

Kempf, swimming in lane 8, touched first and, after spinning to view her time, happily jumped up and down in the pool with her index finger raised high to the crowd.

"I'm really excited about this," Kempf said. "I didn't think I would win, but I did, and it's really exciting."

Hannah Swyers and Jamie Goldberg, teammates from Parkway Central, tied for first in the 1-meter diving, both finishing with 387.85 points.

Swyers, a senior, said the whole weekend was very special.

"It's just really fun with the team," she said. "You get to bond the whole time, and the bus ride, and staying at a hotel with your teammates. It's really fun."

Central coach Dayna Powell credited Art Turner, the former superintendent of schools in Cape Girardeau, with the vision for such an event when the facility was built on what was then the campus of Central High School (now Central Junior High School) in 1980.

"Thirty-four years later, we've got 18 teams from across the state coming to Cape Girardeau to swim," Powell said. "We had 10 teams [Friday night] warming up in our pool. They're staying at our hotels, they're eating at our restaurants. To think that this many people come down to our meet at our pool, it's great."

Rival coaches enjoy coming to Cape Girardeau for many reasons, among them the treatment they receive from the host school and area businesses -- from staying together in an area venue to the orange-tinted roses each of the top eight finishers in every event receives.

"It's really a good bonding experience for the girls to go out of town and stay in a hotel together for the night," said Parkway Central coach Jen Meyer. "They look forward to it all year long."

And for the local teams, they receive a state-level test in their own backyard.

"We can get this kind of competition in Cape at least once a year," Powell said. "Swimming is alive and well in Southeast Missouri, no doubt about it."

Sophomore Kelley Tackett, of Rock Bridge, won both the 200 yard freestyle and the 500 yard freestyle, setting a meet record in the 200 freestyle in 1:53.90. She broke the mark set by Central's Hannah Kinder (1:54.29) in 2007.

City of Roses Invitational

Team results

Team -- 1. Parkway Central 322, 2. Parkway South 314, 3. Rock Bridge 288, 4. Notre Dame 152, 5. Parkway North-Purple 135, 6. Jackson 121, 7. Poplar Bluff 116, 8. Holt 114, 9. Nerinx Hall 105, 10. Hickman 99, 11. Eureka Lady Aquacats 96, 12. Webster Groves 87, 13. Central 81, 14. Timberland 76, 15. Battle 73, 16. Perryville 52.5, 17. Rockwood Summit 52, 18. Parkway North-White 41.5.

Local Individuals

200 medley relay -- 3. Notre Dame 2:01.54; 4. Jackson 2:03.04; 6. Central 2:03.89.

200 freestyle -- 2. Madison Heisserer ND 1:59.79.

200 individual medley -- 1, Caitlyn Palmer J 2:12.23; 3. Natalie King P2:18.24; 7. Morgan Maguire J 2:23.34.

50 freestyle -- 4. Megan Peters ND 26.21; 7. Maddy McDonald C 26.95.

100 butterfly -- 1, Palmer J 58.74; 5. Peters ND 1:03.26.

500 freestyle -- 2. Heisserer ND 5:22.62; 6. Maguire J 5:39.11; 7. Josey Powell J 5:45.96.

100 backstroke -- 2. N. King P 1:01.36; 4. Emily King P 1:06.22.

400 freestyle relay -- 4. Notre Dame 3:59.55.

Jackson sophomore Caitlyn Palmer swims the butterfly leg of the 200-yard individual medley during the City of Roses Invitational on Saturday at Central Municipal Pool. Palmer won the event in 2 minutes, 12.23 seconds.