Dillon leads Liberty North to big weekend at Missouri high school swim championships

Liberty North freshman Ainsley Dillon went into the 44th Missouri girls high school state swimming and diving championships with lofty goals.

“I wanted to bring home gold for Liberty North,” she said.

Dillon would meet her own expectations by winning the 50-yard freestyle in exciting fashion at the Class 2 meet Friday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex.

Dillon becomes the first state swim champion at Liberty North, which opened in 2010.

She was also the only Kansas City-area swimmer to win gold in either Class 1 or Class 2 this year.

“It feels pretty cool,” Dillon said of her title and her four medals at her first high school state meet. “I wanted the gold but really I just wanted to race.”

Dillon cut .15 of a second off her personal best with a time of 23.72 in the finals. She needed every one of those moments as she defeated Courtney Harris of Fort Zumwalt West by just four-tenths of a second.

“I thought I had won, but I had to look at the scoreboard to make sure,” Dillon said. “My eyes are not that good so I had to put on my prescription goggles.”

She saw the news that she wanted.

“I’m so happy to do this for the school,” Dillon said. “My teammates have been so supportive and I have never been a part of a section of fans who cheered so much.”

Liberty North coach Mark Warner was among those proud of the talented freshman.

“She brought everything she could,” Warner said. “But that does not surprise me. She has been great all year but she gets up for meets like this and rises to the occasion. She had a great race and just has a lot of potential to accomplish a lot in the next few years.”

Dillon finished second in the 100-yard freestyle flipping positions with Harris.

She was also a part of the Liberty North 200 free relay, which finished second, and the school’s 400-yard free relay, which came in fourth.

Georgia Clark of Park Hill South came home with a pair of individual medals. Clark was third in the 200-yard IM and also took third in the 100-yard backstroke.

Shaedyn Read of Blue Springs was second in the 500 free.

It wasn’t the best of meets swimming-wise for Kansas City athletes.

It was a different story in the diving portion of the meet, however, as area divers finished 1-2-3-4 in Class 2.

Ella McMahon of Staley won the event, followed by Annie McCord of Lee’s Summit North, Taylor Young of Park Hill South and Annica Valmassei of Lee’s Summit North.

No area teams came home with trophies in either class. Park Hill South and Liberty North had the best showings, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively. Marquette won the Class 2 team title.

Kansas City did not have any swimmers finish in the top two in Class 1.

Pembroke Hill freshman Audrey Lambert had the best finish of any area Class 1 swimmer. She was third in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Kearney’s Andi Kreilling and St. Pius’ Noelle DeFabio came home with two individual medals each. Kreiling was fourth in the 50-yard free and eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke. DeFabio was sixth in the 200-yard free and seventh in the 500-yard free.

As was the case in Class 2, area Class 1 divers did very well. Three finished in the top five.

Westminster Christian standout Margo O’Meara defended her title in dominating fashion. Notre Dame de Sion’s Caroline Knopke was second, Eden Viles of Winnetonka was third and Hayden Meyer of Grain Valley was fifth.

Notre Dame de Sion finished 10th as a team in Class 1.

St. Louis teams swept the trophies. Ladue won followed by MICDS, Webster Groves and Parkway West.

The title was the second for the Rams. Their other one they earned came in the inaugural state meet in 1976.