Sports
More Than 700 Swimmers Compete at Clayton Pool
The Shaw Park invitational has become a summer tradition.
The Clayton Shaw Park Tideriders Summer Invitational has been a part of summer for Annie Goessling for as long as she can remember.
"I have competed in this meet every summer since I was about 8," said Goessling, who will be a senior this fall at MICDS. "It has become a tradition, and I really like this meet and like to do well since it is our home."
More than 700 swimmers took place in the annual swim meet bonanza, held at the . Weather played a role, delaying or canceling some races. The threat of lightning forced organizers to clear the pool deck several times over the course of the three-day event.
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And Goessling did just that at the 73rd annual meet, winning a pair of events and also setting two personal records.
"I'm overjoyed with the way things worked out this weekend," Goessling said. "There are a lot of good athletes here with some older college kids. We are in a hard training phase right now, so you don't expect to have personal bests."
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Goessling had personal bests in both the 200-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle.
But her championships came in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The Tideriders, who were not eligible for the team championship because they hosted the meet, finished 1-2 in the 400-relay in the girls open division.
Goessling teamed with Maddie Wall, Elizabeth Krane and Etinosa Ogbevoen to win the event.
Morgan Mullenix, Mary Beth Howard, Grace Stiegemeyer and Sarah Fauska finished second.
Among the weekend's standouts: Sarah Finlay, who will enter the eighth grade this fall at MICDS.
"Sarah is an unbelievable swimmer," Goessling said.
And Finlay was certainly unbelievable over the weekend.
"My goal coming into this meet was to get the high point award," said Finlay, who lives in Town and Country.
She won four events in the 13-14 age division—the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle.
"There was some pretty tough competition here," Finlay said. "The backstroke is my favorite event. I was probably most proud of the 200 free in this meet because that championship was not expected."
Finlay has already had a busy summer: She participated in the Open Water Nationals in Fort Lauderdale two weeks ago.
"That was my first open water swim, and it was a lot of fun," said Finlay of the 5K ocean swim.
Finlay will have a meet later in the summer in Indiana, and she is preparing for sectionals in Columbia and a zone meet in Topeka, KS.
Finlay and teammates Maggie Cox, who finished third in the open 400-free, Lydia Welty and Nicole Maurer finished second in the 400-free relay in the 13-14 division.
Christopher Reichert had an outstanding meet for the Tiderider boys. He won the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke in the boys 13-14 age division.
had four top four finishes for the Tideriders in the open division. He was second in the 200-yard backstroke and fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle. He teamed with Cody Friedhoff, Tim Benage and Luke Sloan to finish second in the 400-yard freestyle relay.