Sports

Schoedel’s swimmers prep for state

Kevin Kafoury, Sports Editor • February 16, 2011

Under the constant eye of new head coach Joe Schoedel, girls swimming has produced five State qualifiers. Seniors Liza Poskin and Eryn Doran, along with junior Annalise Grigereit; sophomore Natasha Porporis, and freshman Abby Watson are scheduled to make their trip to the St. Peters’ Rec-Plex for the Feb. 18-19 event. However, more swimmers can still qualify for state, based on their performance in the conference playoffs. According to mshsaa.org, the final list of qualifiers will be posted Wednesday, Feb 16.

Last year, under coaches Dan Bostelmann and Gregg Emde, the girls placed twenty ninth in State. This year, however, Schoedel plans to improve that number.

“We have a much deeper team than last year,” Schoedel said. “I’m expecting a lot better.”

Porporis qualified for the most events on the team: the 200 and 500 meter freestyle, 200 meter individual medley and the 100 meter backstroke. The four other swimmers qualified for an assortment of six other events. As a team, the Mustangs made the cut for the 200 medley relay and the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

Varsity swimmer Mattie Eversole, junior, positively commented on the achievements of her state-bound teammates.

“[The girls] worked really hard to get to where they’re at,” Eversole said. “We had a great coach and a lot of fun.”

The Mustangs have been preparing for State since their first meet on Dec. 12. Since then, they have had nine meets and practice every day after school. Schoedel said the girls have put in a tremendous amount of work throughout the course of the season.

“We’ve swam a lot of laps, and we’ve squeezed in as much training as possible,” Schoedel said of his Mustangs.

Along with the swimming championships comes diving, but MHS doesn’t have any qualified divers at this point. Divers can still qualify through conference playoffs, however. During her last meet, diver Alli Miller, junior, missed State by five points. She hopes to still qualify in upcoming conference meets.

“I really hope I can make it [to State], but I’m proud of all our swimmers who made it this year,” Miller said.

Despite only having two seniors compared to last years 11, the swim team seeks to capture a top spot in this years State competition. Schoedel believes this is all too possible. According to directathletics.com, Schoedel has produced three swimmers that have placed in the top ten in the 100 meter breastroke, 100 meter backstroke, and 500 meter freestyle, respectively. Those swimmers would be Poskin, Porporis and Watson. With all this talent, Schoedel is confident that his team can succeed in State.

“I know we have the talent to do very well this year,” Schoedel said.

Schoedel and his swimmers will enter state among the area’s top schools, including LHS, MICDS, Ladue, and Ft. Zumwalt West.

In his first year coaching for MHS, Schoedel has the chance to improve his swimmers nearly 30 spots from last year.

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