Northland athletes fare well at Missouri swimming and cross country state meets

The Missouri high school boys swimming and diving state meet on Saturday included a new team champion for the first time in more than a decade.

Park Hill senior Marcin Glebocki made sure the top sprinter’s race had more consistency.

Glebocki won the 50-yard freestyle for the second straight season, touching the finish line in 21.23 seconds in Saturday’s championship race. The win came one day after he finished third in the preliminary race.

“It was definitely nerve-racking; that’s for sure,” he told The Star after the race on Saturday. “I just had to make sure I had my head in the game. I did do some simple mistakes (in the preliminary race) that I knew I could fix today. In the end, it all worked out.”

Glebocki also placed fourth in the 100 freestyle. Park Hill won the 200 freestyle relay and finished third in the 400 freestyle relay. Trojans senior Jered Weger was seventh in the 100 freestyle and eighth in the 200 freestyle.

That all added up to the Trojans’ fourth-place team finish with 135 points. Rock Bridge won the team title, ending an 11-year reign for Rockhurst.

Oak Park senior Elliott Eisele-Miller gave the Northland another victory when he edged Lee’s Summit junior Sam Drew to win the 100 breaststroke. Eisele-Miller won by 0.01 seconds.

Kearney finished ninth in the team standings with 108 points, and the Bulldogs had five qualifiers for the finals races Saturday. Sophomore Austin Wolfe took fifth in the 100 freestyle and sixth in the 200 freestyle; sophomore Grant Sloan placed eighth in the 50 freestyle; freshman Evan Holt was eighth in the 500 freestyle; junior Spencer Steward finished seventh in the 200 individual medley and eighth in the 100 breaststroke; and the Bulldogs’ relay team was seventh in the 400 freestyle.

Staley, the Suburban White Conference champions this season, placed 10th in the team race with 72 points. The Falcons placed fourth in the 200 medley relay, the day’s opening race, and junior Jason Schlaud was sixth in the 100 backstroke.

In other notable finishes, Liberty freshman Noah Witzki took sixth in the 100 butterfly; Park Hill South freshman Jackson Garrett was eighth in the 100 backstroke; and Liberty North placed eighth in the 200 freestyle relay.

Cross country state meet

While Kearney junior Clayton Adams fell short of his state-championship aspirations on Saturday at the Missouri Class 4 cross country state meet in Jefferson City, he still managed to earn all-state honors for the third consecutive year.

“It’s disappointing, but I still have another year left, so that just means is I need to put that much more energy into winning next year,” said Adams, who finished fourth.

He wasn’t the only one to earn the all-state recognition. Staley senior Jackson Frazier was 22nd in the same race, and Liberty sophomore Ryan Flood was 23rd.

In Missouri Class 4 girls, Platte County sophomore Rebekah Geddes took sixth — her second straight all-state performance after she finished 16th as a freshman in 2014.

In Class 3 girls, Smithville sophomore Mira Bannwarth claimed the 25th and final all-state spot.

In Class 2 girls, Lawson senior Mackenzi Stephan did the same, finishing in 25th place.

West Platte freshman Lea Moose placed 23rd in Class 1.

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Northland athletes fare well at Missouri swimming and cross country state meets."