Three things to watch at Missouri boys swimming state meet

The Missouri high school boys swimming and diving state championships will take place Friday and Saturday at the City of St. Peters Rec-Plex. The Star analyzes three things to watch at the state meet.

1. The encore for Lee’s Summit North’s Liam Bresette

A year ago, Lee’s Summit North swimmer Liam Bresette took the state meet by storm, winning the 500-yard and 200-yard freestyle races and setting a state-meet record in the latter.

As a junior, Bresette has opted to mix it up. He will defend his championship in the 500 freestyle — where he has the top qualifying time in the state. But rather than defend the 200 freestyle crown, Bresette will swim in the 200 individual medley.

Bresette was The Star’s All-Metro Missouri boys swimmer of the year last season.

2. Another chance for Lee’s Summit senior Sam Drew

Lee’s Summit senior Sam Drew notched a pair of top-five finishes last fall, and yet he departed the state meet disappointed. After all, he encountered one of the most brutal second-place finishes in state-meet history, when he lost the 100 breaststroke by 0.01 seconds.

Another chance awaits.

Drew is seeded No. 1 in both the 100 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley.

3. The momentum for conference champions

Aside from Drew and Bresette, a bevy of other swimmers are coming off multi-event victories at the Suburban Conference championship meets.

Liberty sophomores Cameron Murphy and Noah Witzki, Staley senior Jason Schlaud, Oak Park sophomore Jonathan Hill and freshman Robbie Hill and Kearney’s trio of senior Spencer Steward, sophomore Evan Holt and junior Grant Sloan all won two individual events in their respective league events.

Blue Springs South, Park Hill South, Staley and Kearney enter state meet after winning team conference championships.

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Three things to watch at Missouri boys swimming state meet."