For the first time in school history, the West Plains High School Men’s Zizzer Swim Team earned All-State Medals and set school records at the Missouri State High School Class 1 Swimming and Diving Championships this past weekend. The meet was held at the St. Peter’s Rec Plex where the Zizzers competed against the top swimmers from across the state. In it’s 9th season, this is a remarkable accomplishment for the young team.
The Zizzer’s 400-yard Freestyle Relay Team proudly brought home the Zizzer’s first podium finish and All-State Medals with an 8th-place State performance. During the preliminary round and at remarkable speed, the team broke the WPHS record with a time of 3:19.48. Competing for the Zizzers were: Junior Dawson Fiorino (50.68 seconds), Junior Elias Curtis (50.23), Senior Isaac Kammerer (49.72), and Sophomore Avery Miller (48.85).
With lightning-fast speed true to Zizzer theme, All-State Honorable Mention was awarded to the 200-yard Freestyle Relay Team for their 11th place finish, and a new Zizzer record was set in prelims with a total time of 1:31.67. Each athlete sprinted a 50-yard lap in the race: Miller – 22.78 seconds, Fiorino – 22.66, Curtis – 23.17, and Kammerer – 23.06 seconds!
Individual All-State Honorable Mention and school record performances for the Zizzers fell throughout the weekend-long Championships. In the 100-yard Freestyle, Sophomore Avery Miller set a new school record with a time of 49.41 seconds, finishing in 13th place and earning All-State Honorable Mention. He also swam an impressive 22.74 second 50-yard Freestyle in the preliminary round Friday. Just finishing his sophomore season, this athlete has performed remarkably all-around and will be a Zizzer to watch in upcoming seasons.
Kammerer also brought home All-State Honorable Mention individually, posting a time of 5:02.21 minutes in the 500-yard Freestyle. In prelims, he also swam a strong 200-yard Freestyle finishing 18th, 0.8 second shy of moving on to finals. Historically noted as a standout long-distance swimmer, he currently holds the individual school records in both the 200-yard Freestyle and the 500-yard Freestyle and has been credited with the ability to swim competitively at nearly every event as he closes-out his high school swimming career.
Junior Elias Curtis continued to smash school records at nearly every turn including in the 100-yard Butterfly where he finished with a time of 54.92 seconds. He also competed at the State level in the 200 Individual Medley and is the current Zizzer recordholder in that event as well.
Competing for the Zizzers in the State Championship preliminary round was the200-yard Medley Relay team of Toby Keith (backstroke), Landen Johnson (breaststroke), Fiorino (butterfly), and Ethan Squires (freestyle). Fiorino competed for the Zizzers on all 3 State relay teams, proving himself as an outstanding sprinter and setting the stage for another fantastic Men’s Swim season in 2023.
“These Zizzer swimmers continue to impress year after year and redefine what speed is as they crush personal bests and set new school records. Just look at the history of the 400 Free Relay: 2014 – 4:10.20; 2015 – 3:46.50; 2018 – 3:40.39; 2019 – 3:28.81; 2021 – 3:23.70; 2022 – 3:19.48. This is what hard work looks like in performance and what the benefits of having a year-round program like the West Plains Waves does for the Zizzer Swim Teams!” remarked Head Coach Ryan Smith. His team has broken 7 of 12 school records this season.
Submitted by Joe Kammerer
