PIERRE, S.D. – Pierre Swim Team hosted their second meet of the season this weekend at the Pierre Aquatic Center. The Capital City Qualifier had 233 athletes from nine teams from South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa competing during this two-day meet. The PST swimmers had a great weekend, earning 29 trophies and 14 medals at this high-points meet. Trophies were awarded to the top five finishers in each division and medals awarded for places six through eighth.
In the girls 6 & under, Presley Frost brought home first with 97 total points. Emma Barnett earned 16 points, giving her the third-place trophy. For the boys 6 & under, it was a sweep. Lathan Rounds came in with 120 points for the first-place finish while Peter Hodges placed second with 68 points.
In the 7-8 division, the girls had an impressive showing on the podium. Amara Dell was the top finisher with 149 points. Charlie Hull came in a close second with 145 points. At 131 points, Riley Berg was the third-place finisher and SorrineEkle was fourth with 129 points. One the boys side, Jagger Gardner earned the fifth-place trophy with 86 points. Bryant Zeeb, Jonas Olson, and Gunner Jones earned the sixth, seventh, and eighth place medals.
Athletes in the 9-10 division also saw success in the pool. Olivia Frederick came in third with 118 points while Isabelle Weller brought home the sixth-place medal with 95 points. Mason Ward-Zeller, Charlie Simpson, and Trevor Rounds topped the podium with their second, third, and fourth place finish. Diego Ramirez also brought home some hardware with the seventh-place medal.
The 11-12 division brought home six trophies and two medals. Ella Ward-Zeller won first place with 160 points. Katelynn Axtell came in fourth with 130 points and Michelle Weiss’s 122 points earned her fifth place. Kendra Rounds and Avery Vanden Bos earned the sixth and seventh place medals. For the boys, Spencer Skjonsberg’s 146 points earned him the second-place position. At 142 points, Aidan Burke brought home third place. Mason Dell came in fifth with 122 points.
Morgan Nelson placed sixth in the girls 13-14 division with 110 points. William Hodges, Isaak Rombough, and Nathan Haberling also competed in the 13-14 age group. William finished fifth with 115 points, Isaak finished seventh with 106 points and Nathan finished eighth with 90 points.
Six athletes earned high points recognition in the 15-16 age group. For the girls, AllycenHerrman finished the weekend in fifth place with 103 points. Taryn Senger came in witht 82 points, giving her seventh place. Evan Rumrill dominated the boys with his first-place finish at 149 points. Caleb Huizenga also had a great weekend, finishing third with 128 points, only one point behind the second-place finisher, Andrew Herrlein, a former PST athlete that now swims for the Mitchell Aquatic Club. Dmitri Mutchelknaus came in fifth with 107 total points. Nick Loebrought home the eighth-place medal with 98 points, one point behind Nathan Ottenbacher, another former PST athlete who now swims for the Aberdeen Swim Club.
IN the 17-19 division, PST earned six trophies. Kylie Light, Anna Haberman and Cassie Axtell competed in the girls’ division. Kylie came in second with 102 points, Anna in third with 100 points and Cassie in third with 95 points. Porter Jones finished third with 53 points, Jordan Lutmer in fourth with 48 points and Trey Dravland in fifth with 32 points.
New team records were also set over the weekend. Katelynn Axtell’s swim of 2:14.42 in the girls 11-12 200 Backstroke broke Sydney Theobald’s record of 2:31.19 that was set in 2013. Ella Ward-Zeller broke two records, both previously held by her. Her time of 27.38 in the 50 Butterfly and 1:03.44 in the 100 Butterfly sets the new team record in the girls 11-12 for those events. Mason Ward-Zeller set a new team record in the boys 9-10 division with his swim of 2:37.97 in the 200 Individual Medley. The previous record was also held by Mason and set a month earlier.
Pierre Swim Team will have three swimmers competing at the Watertown swim meet February 18-19. The next big event for the team is the State B Championship on February 24-26 in Yankton. The final meet of the season will be the State A Championship, held March 3-5 in Aberdeen. Currently the team has 67 athletes qualified to swim at the State A Championship.