FENTON • The Eureka girls swimming team showcased its stamina and Summit's Megan Popp learned a hard lesson at Thursday's Summit Quad.
Displaying unmatchable depth, the Wildcats cruised to the team title, winning with 723 points. The host Falcons finished second with 514 points followed by Cape Girardeau Central (411) and Lutheran South (351).
Popp went from elation to frustration at the end of the 500-yard freestyle. The Falcons senior swamped the field in the race, finishing first in 5 minutes, 07.77 seconds. That would have set the school record at Summit. Except … upon her finish she was notified of a uniform violation – one earring wiped it all away.
"You used to get a warning for jewelry," Summit coach Luke Benson said. "But MSHSAA felt that it was starting to be problem and changed the rule to one warning to all of the swimmers before the meet and if you are caught wearing (jewelry) during the meet, you're DQ'd."
Benson said Popp will challenge the Summit 500 free record again.
"This was really tough for her," Benson said. "That is one of her goals, to get on that (record) board. I'm confident she will do it again and will have more opportunities down the road. She'll do it."
Things were not a complete bummer for Popp. She won the 200 freestyle with a state-qualifying time of 1:59.14.
With Popp's win negated, the 500 freestyle title went to Lutheran South freshman Sabrina Billings, who finished in 6:25.44. Billings was the only winner not from either Summit or Eureka.
Sharon Wasson's Eureka club swept all three relays, with the 200 medley squad posting a state qualifying time (1:59.24) in the day's first race.
"That just set the tone," Wasson said. "Every one of our girls dropped their times today and the sophomores has shown great improvement so far."
In the 200 IM, Summit's Bianca Ninneman won the first of two events, finishing in 2:16.77. She also won the 100 butterfly in 1:05.66.
"She didn't swim as well as she would have liked in the butterfly," Benson said. "She will get a much better time as the season goes on."
Eureka's Emily Muggleton finished second to Ninneman in the 200 IM. Coming in nearly eight seconds faster than her seed time, she posted a state-qualifying time of 2:19.74.
Summit also got a first-place finish from Jennifer Cline in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1:03.35, just an eye blink ahead of Eureka's Kelsey Griffith (1:03.55). Summit diver Megan Kremer also won with 197.35 points.
Eureka finished one-two in the 50 freestyle where Ellie Figueroa (26.63) edged teammate Stephanie Mueller (26.77). Mueller came back to win the 100 backstroke in 1:10.08. Muggleton came back to win in the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.16. The Eureka 200 freestyle relay in 1:49.25 and the 400 freestyle relay in 4:27.71.
The Wildcats looked in shape, and Wasson credited the nice start to the squad's dedication..
"Tonight was all about endurance and conditioning," she said. "We have done a lot of extra training, and I have really pushed the weight room and you can see huge improvements."
