Congratulations to the Lady Zizzer Swimmers who have officially qualified for the MSHSAA State Swimming and Diving State Championships at the St. Peters Rec-Plex Friday-Saturday, February 17-18. The Lady Zizzers will compete Friday at 4:30 pm. Those that qualify into finals (top 16) will compete Saturday at 3:00 pm.
Junior Paige Sheridan has qualified in all eight individual events. She could have been able to swim in six of those events as she would have been Top 32. As two individual events are the maximum, she will compete in the 200 yard Freestyle and the 500 yard Freestyle. She is currently seeded 4th in the 200 and 7th in the 500. She is a returning All-State First Team honoree in the 500 and hopes to go two-for-two this year.
Sophomore Evie Niesen has qualified for five individual events. She could have been able to swim in four of those events. She will compete in the 100 yard Freestyle and the 100 yard Breaststroke for the second year in a row. She is currently seeded 18th in the 100 Free and 19th in the 100 Breaststroke.
Freshman Roz Fiorino has qualified for six individual events. She could have been able to swim in all six of those events. She will compete in the 100 yard Freestyle and the 200 yard Freestyle. She is currently seeded 10th in the 100 Free and 11th in the 200.
Junior Addie Peugh has qualified for five individual events. She was able to earn a Top 32 spot in the 500 yard Freestyle for her first individual swim at State. She is currently seeded 30th in the 500.
West Plains qualified all 3 relays. The 200 Medley Relay will be Addie Peugh (Backstroke), Penelope Autry (Breaststroke), Audrey Land (Butterfly), and Abbie Peugh (Free). They will be seeded in 17th place. The 200 yard Freestyle Relay will be Roz Fiorino, Evie Niesen, Addie Peugh, and Paige Sheridan. They will be seeded 8th. The 400 yard Freestyle Relay will consist of the same foursome in a different order of Sheridan, Peugh, Fiorino, and Niesen. They will be seeded 6th place.
“We are looking to get at least 2 of those relays into the finals,” said Head Coach Ryan Smith. “Top 8 All-State finishes would be awesome! We have never finished higher than 31st place at the State Championships as a team, but there is a great opportunity to be Top 10 this year.”
There will be a Girls State Swimming Send-off at West Plains High School Thursday, February 16 at 1:00 pm. The girls will run through the school and exit out the south Cafeteria doors. Any community members are welcome to come cheer them on as they exit those doors.
