ST. PETERS • The Fort Zumwalt West girls swim team overpowered the field at the Gateway Athletic Conference championships Thursday at the Rec Plex.
The Jaguars won nine of 12 events at the championships and amassed 508 points to cruise to the team title.
"This is crazy, and I am so excited for us to win conference again," Zumwalt West's swimmer Mallory Gonthier said. "Winning conference this year shows that we're not just a bunch of swimmers, we're a swimming team."
Zumwalt West easily outdistanced second-place Francis Howell (357 points) and third-place Holt (311). Finishing behind the top three were: Howell Central (204), Zumwalt North (171), Howell North (145), Timberland (128), Zumwalt East (120), Zumwalt South (119), St. Charles West (95) and Duchesne (55).
"This is the best I've ever seen this team really show up and perform," Zumwalt West coach Jeri Labrot said. "Everybody did very well. I just couldn't be any happier with how things went for us."
Zumwalt West set the tone for the conference championships by powering to a GAC meet record in the first event, the 200-yard medley relay. Kayla Grimm, Aly Coleman, Courtney Coe and Evyn Spencer captured the title in 1 minute 51.78 seconds.
"We were just pumped and ready to start this meet," said Coe, who swam the breaststroke. "The record was a goal we were shooting for, but it felt awesome to go out there and actually get it."
Coe, Spencer and Grimm went on to win two individual events each, and Coleman won one.
Coe captured the 200 IM (2:18.24), but it was her record-setting win in the 100 butterfly that had people talking. Coe outdueled Howell's Maria Schroeder to set the new GAC mark at 56.75 seconds.
"I could see her (Schroeder) through my peripheral vision," said Coe of Schroeder. "I just kept thinking that I had to keep my head down and get it going. I just thought (at the finish), ‘Oh my God, that just happened.' It was incredible."
Grimm captured titles in the the 200 (1:59.83) and 500 freestyle (5:20.54) races, and Spencer won the 100 freestyle (53.88) and the 100 backstroke (59.14) events.
The other individual win for Zumwalt West came in the 100 breaststroke where Coleman took the title (1:10.95).
Howell's Schroeder set a meet record with her win in the 50 freestyle. She finished in 24.07 seconds.
"The only thing I really remember was my arm hitting my head on the turn," Schroeder said. "That and touching the wall that was it. It felt good to win."
Howell also posted wins in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. In the 200 relay, Schroeder teamed with freshmen Olivia Apperson, Jennifer Wood and Brittney DelCastillo to set the meet record at 1:40.96. Schroeder DelCastillo, Wood and Alyssa Crawford teamed to win the 400 relay in 3:44.25.
"I am on cloud nine right now," Howell coach Mandy Chun said about the 200 relay's record-setting effort. "I knew my girls could do it, without a doubt. I just told them to go for the record."
