Howell Central swimmer Drew Smith was pretty ticked off.
In the next-to-last swim of his high school career, the senior - a favorite to win the 100-yard breaststroke at the Gateway Athletic Conference (GAC) swim championships - finished in third place.
"I was a little mad," Smith said. "I didn't talk to anybody after that. I guess that's not very good for a captain, but I was really upset. I was just trying to do all I could to put my energy into making us do well in the final relay."
Smith channeled his energy, however, and really swam with a purpose when it mattered.
He swam the third leg of a 4x100 freestyle relay that won the race, and by extension the meet, in a time of 3:22.28. He teamed with Derek Mielke, Ryan Macy and Zach Rogers to turn in the winning performance at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters on Nov. 3.
The win in the final relay gave Howell Central 343 meet points, which edged out the 333 points scored by Francis Howell.
"This feels pretty good," said Smith of the team title. "We thought we had it last year, but this is a lot more fun now because we got it this year."
Fort Zumwalt West wound up in third place with 297 points, followed by Zumwalt South (287), Timberland (261), Zumwalt East (181), Howell North (162), Zumwalt North (148) and Holt (129).
Howell Central coach Andrew Morgan credited his entire team for its top-to-bottom success that earned the Spartans the team title.
"We had some really good swims from everybody on the team," Morgan said. "Even the guys that swam in prelims but didn't make the finals. Everybody was dropping times and swimming their hardest. All the hard work put in by everyone this season definitely showed."
In addition to the 400 free relay, Howell Central swimmers earned wins in the 200 individual medley (Rogers, 1:44.92) and in the 200 medley relay (Rogers, Smith, Macy and Mielke, 1:42.53), as well as the diving competition (Brendan Brause, 435.15 points).
Brause's total set a new conference record, eclipsing the 11-year-old mark set by Zumwalt West's Scott Annen of 402.60.
"I thought this was outstanding for somebody who only started diving last year," said Morgan of Brause. "He's just made enormous strides."
While it was Howell Central that shined as a team, a couple of individuals also stood out at the meet.
Howell's Ryan Baker and Timberland's Andrew Sansoucie each won two individual events. Baker won the 200 IM in a time of 1:58.43 and the 500 free in 4:42.34.
"He was just incredible and I'm still smiling today," Howell coach Mandy Chun said. "(He) did achieve his goals of winning both events and breaking the GAC record. His other goal was to qualify in all three relays for state, which he accomplished as well."
Sansoucie won the 100 fly in 49.18 seconds and the 50 free in 20.92,
Other event winners at the meet included: Fort Zumwalt South's Tanner Curvey (100 free, 49.28 seconds); Timberland's Justin Marler (100 back, 54.29) Howell North's Fountain (100 breast, 1:01.15) and the Zumwalt South 200 freestyle relay (Curvey, Nate Breshears, Thomas Cassimatis and Mitchel Smith, 1:31.84).
