The Lady Zizzer Swim Team made history over the weekend at the Southwest Missouri (SWMO) Championships at the John H. Foster Natatorium in Springfield. This 2-day meet features a Varsity prelim-final meet and a single session Junior Varsity meet. These meets feature 26 teams and is the culminating meet for most of the area swimmers. It is also one of the final chances for swimmers to qualify for the State Championships in 2 weeks.
“Going into prelims on Friday, I had done the math, and we were in position to place 3rd. We were only 2 points behind Ozark and only 10 points ahead of Carl Junction. Webb City seemed to have control if everything for them went to plan,” said Head Coach Ryan Smith.
Preliminaries started with the 200 Medley Relay (2:07.41) qualifying into the B-Final as the 8th place team. The relay consisted of Addie Peugh (31.80), Penelope Autry (36.19), Audrey Land (32.08), and Trinity Wake (27.34). The 200 Freestyle was the first big event that could set up the scoring in finals for the Lady Zizzers. Paige Sheridan (1:58.88) led the Zizzers with a 2nd place finish in a new school record, followed by Roz Fiorino (2:01.90) in 3rd, and Evie Niesen (2:05.29) in 5th all qualifying for the A-Final. Abbie Peugh (2:12.30) also added a 14th place finish to advance to the C-Final.
The 200 Individual Medley added 2 Zizzers to the B-Final with excellent swims by Ad. Peugh (2:31.26) to finish 9th and Autry (2:34.17) to finish 11th. Land (27.45) finished 21st and Wake (28.09) finished 31st in the 50 Freestyle. In the 100 Butterfly, Land (1:13.37) qualified for the C-Final finishing 18th place.
Fiorino (55.51) swam herself into the A-Final of the 100 Free finishing 5th place. The next big event for the Zizzers came in the 500 Freestyle. Once again, Paige Sheridan (5:15.25) led the way with a 1st place finish in a new school record time. Ad. Peugh (5:51.30) joined her in the A-Final finishing 5th place. Ab. Peugh (6:01.12) and Wake (6:05.44) got into the B-Final by placing 9th and 10th respectively.
The 200 Freestyle Relay (1:45.34) came up big to get into the A-Final finishing 4th place. Fiorino (25.95) and Niesen (25.97) joined Ab. Peugh (28.01) and Sheridan (25.41) who had just swam the 500 Free. The lone event to not feature a Zizzer was the 100 Backstroke. Niesen and Autry both earned final spots in the 100 Breaststroke. Niesen (1:14.38) placed 6th to earn a spot in the A-Final. Autry (1:20.31) finished 12th to earn a spot in the B-Final.
The final event of the prelims was the 400 Free Relay. With Niesen having no rest coming out of the 100 Breast, she anchored the relay of Sheridan (56.06), Ad. Peugh (58.97), Fiorino (54.90), and Niesen (1:00.43) to a 3rd place finish (3:50.36) and another A-Final for the Lady Zizzers.
“After the prelims, I did the math again. Webb City was still positioned to win by 45 points over Carl Junction, who was now predicted 13 points ahead of us with Ozark just 1 point behind us in 4th,” said Smith. “It was still shaping up for a 3-team race for 2nd place. The girls had done their job in prelims to position them to earn points in finals.”
On Saturday, the 200 Medley Relay of Ad. Peugh (31.79), Autry (36.39), Land (32.31), and Wake (27.40) started off finals strong holding place and finished 8th place (2:07.89). Then Sheridan, Fiorino, Niesen, and Ab. Peugh provided the team an incredible 72 points to vault the team from 8th to 2nd. Sheridan (1:57.13) finished 2nd with a new school record. Fiorino (2:01.82) finished 3rd and Niesen (2:04.62) finished 5th to round out the Lady Zizzers that earned medals. Ab. Peugh (2:10.85) won the C-Final to finish 13th.
In the B-Final of the 200 IM, Ad. Peugh (2:29.56) earned her state qualifying cut finishing 9th place and Autry (2:35.60) finished 11th place. This kept the Lady Zizzers in 2nd behind Ozark after 3 events. The Lady Zizzers did not have any swimmers in the 50 Free or anyone entered into the 1-meter Springboard Diving event, so the Lady Zizzers fell to 5th place after 5 events.
The Lady Zizzers earned points in both the 100 Fly and 100 Free. Land (1:14.29) finished 17th in the 100 Fly. Fiorino (54.95) swam to a new school record and a 4th place podium finish in the 100 Free. These swims helped to maintain the 5th place standing through 7 events.
Then came the event that scored the most points of any event for any team. The 500 Free, like the 200 Free, was dominated by the Lady Zizzers placing 4 in the top 10. Paige Sheridan (5:15.42) took home West Plains’ very first SWMO event win ever. Ad. Peugh (5:48.91) added a 5th place medal. Ab. Peugh (5:58.86) won the consolation final finishing 7th, and Wake (6:07.03) finished 10th. The 74 points pushed the Lady Zizzers up to 3rd place as a team, only 1 point behind Ozark.
The 200 Freestyle Relay (1:43.65) of Fiorino (25.67), Niesen (25.90), Ab. Peugh (26.94), and Sheridan (25.14) fought hard to earn a 3rd place medal breaking the school record and barely being outtouched at the wall by Carthage for 2nd by .02. This finish moved the Zizzers into 2nd as a team. However, Ozark and Carl Junction took advantage of Webb City and West Plains not having any finalists in the 100 Backstroke and the Lady Zizzers fell to 4th place.
Niesen and Autry helped put the Zizzers back into 2nd place by 1 point over Ozark and 10 over Carl Junction during the 100 Breaststroke. Niesen (1:16.38) earned a 6th place medal in the A-Final and Autry (1:19.41) earned an 11th place finish in the consolation final. Webb City, though, all but wrapped up the team win heading into the final event scoring 56 points in the Breaststroke to take a 50 point lead on West Plains. The only prayer the Lady Zizzers had was to win the final relay and for Webb City to be disqualified. West Plains was more concerned about Ozark or Carl Junction sneaking up to take 2nd.
The 400 Free Relay went virtually perfect for the Lady Zizzers foursome. Sheridan (55.32) led off with a new best time and grabbed the early lead by 2 seconds. Ad. Peugh (58.98) held onto the lead. Fiorino (54.63), setting a new best time, put the Zizzers up by over 5 seconds. Niesen (56.80) having just recently swam the 100 Breaststroke swam a new best time and anchored the Lady Zizzers to the win by over 3 seconds and a new school record of 3:45.73, having never trailed during the entire race.
The battle for 2nd was complete with the Lady Zizzers (344) coming out on top of Ozark (331) and Carl Junction (326) while Webb City grabbed the Championship with 384 points.
“These girls are amazing,” exclaimed Smith. “I am so proud of their fight and perseverance. Evie (Niesen) didn’t have her best swim in the 100 Breaststroke right before that final relay, but her relay team and I helped get her out of her head for her to come away with a big swim to anchor the relay. I couldn’t be more proud of how she fought. It’s hard to swim back-to-back races, but to swim them after the first one not going how you want it to, is exceptionally difficult.”
The Lady Zizzers capped off a great weekend of swimming with 7 individual medals, 2 relay medals, 2 event champions, 17 total finalists, Runner-Up team finish with 344 points, 5 school records, and numerous best times and incredible swims.
History was made with the highest finish by a Zizzer Swim Team at SWMO Championships. The Lady Zizzers had previously finished as high as 9th. History on a large scale was made by both Webb City and West Plains. In the past 30-plus years, there has never been a team not named Glendale or Kickapoo finish in the top 2 at SWMO. This year, that streak was broken with the 1-2 finish by Webb City and West Plains.
The Lady Zizzers have a last chance qualifying meet Tuesday, February 7. They will find out who officially qualifies for the MSHSAA State Championships Sunday, February 12. MSHSAA State Championships are in St. Peters Friday-Saturday, February 17-18.
Pictured:
- Paige Sheridan (top middle) stands atop the podium in the 500 Freestyle at the Southwest Missouri Swimming Championships. This was the first win by any Zizzer at SWMO. Addie Peugh (bottom right) also earned a 5th place medal in the event.
- 200 Free Relay swam to a 3rd place medal. This was the first relay medal ever for the Lady Zizzers. (L-R – Evie Niesen, Paige Sheridan, Abbie Peugh, Roz Fiorino)
- 400 Free Relay takes the win and new school record. This was the first relay win ever by any Zizzer team.
- Lady Zizzers accept their Runner-Up plaque. (L-R – Head Coach Ryan Smith, Aubrey Gross, Penelope Autry, Roz Fiorino, Evie Niesen, Trinity Wake, Addie Peugh, Paige Sheridan, Abbie Peugh, Lilli Wake, Lily York, Assistant Coach Cassidy Lapham, Audrey Land).
