Lee’s Summit North’s Liam Bresette is The Star’s All-Metro Missouri boys swimmer of year

Lee’s Summit North High School swimmer Liam Bresette popped up from under the water, and he recalls immediately turning his head toward the scoreboard. After the conclusion of the 200-yard freestyle race at the Missouri state championship meet last month, Bresette knew he was in contention for a victory.

Most of all, he knew he had swam one of the best races of his life. But this good?

Bresette set a state-meet record with a time of 1 minute, 38.15 seconds. For a sophomore swimmer who debated whether to compete for Lee’s Summit North or stick with his club team, his decision was validated.

“I was speechless,” Bresette said. “I had a goal this year to break a state record, but I was trying to get the record in the 500 (freestyle). I didn’t expect it in the 200. That made it all worth it.”

He wasn’t done, either.

Bresette also won the 500 freestyle at the state meet in 4 minutes, 29.90 seconds for his second gold medal of the competition. He is The Star’s All-Metro Missouri boys swimmer of the year.

“I turned my focus pretty quickly to the 500 after I won the 200. That’s pretty much how I was trained in year-round swimming, when I would have two or three events every day for four or five days,” Bresette said. “Having that endurance and that mind-set that I know I can do this, it was normal to me.”

The Star’s All-Metro Missouri boys swimming team

200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY

Staley (Jason Schlaud, junior; Collin Duffy, senior; Alex Gach, senior; and Mitchel Zarse, senior). The Falcons took the top seed into the Missouri state meet and finished fourth with a time of 1 minute, 37.08 seconds, the top showing among Kansas City-area competitors.

200 FREESTYLE

Austin Wolfe, Kearney, sophomore. The best 200 freestyle swim of Wolfe’s season came at the Missouri state meet (1:42.67), resulting in a sixth-place finish. He also placed fifth in the 100 freestyle.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

Sam Drew, Lee’s Summit, junior. After finishing fourth in the 200 individual medley (1:53.69) at the Missouri state meet, Drew narrowly missed out on a state title in the 100 breaststroke.

50 FREESTYLE

Marcin Glebocki, Park Hill, senior. He successfully defended his Missouri state title in the 50 freestyle, touching the wall in 21.23 seconds. He also placed fourth in the 100 freestyle at the state meet.

ONE-METER DIVING

David Knopke, Rockhurst, senior. With 513.15 points, Knopke concluded his career with a second-place showing at the Missouri state meet. It was his fourth straight top-two finish.

100 BUTTERFLY

AJ Iseman, Rockhurst, senior. With his participation on two relay teams, Iseman had four top-six finishes at the Missouri state meet. He was fourth in the 100 butterfly with a time of 51.46 seconds.

100 FREESTYLE

Garrett Spencer, Lee’s Summit West, senior. Spencer finished sixth in the 100 freestyle at the Missouri state meet with a time of 47.74 seconds. He was also sixth in the 100 breaststroke at the state meet.

500 FREESTYLE

Liam Bresette, Lee’s Summit North, sophomore. After setting a state-meet record in the 200 freestyle, Bresette added another state championship in the 500 freestyle, finishing in 4 minutes, 29.90 seconds.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY

Park Hill (Jered Weger, senior; Sean Cogley, junior; Danny Jones, junior; and Marcin Glebocki, senior). The Trojans’ successful day of relays at the Missouri state meet reached its peak in the 200 freestyle relay, which they won with a time of 1:27.67.

100 BACKSTROKE

Jason Schlaud, Staley, junior. Schlaud saved his best race for last, touching the wall in 52.38 seconds to finish sixth at the Missouri state meet.

100 BREASTSTROKE

Elliott Eisele-Miller, Oak Park, senior. In the closest race at the Missouri state meet, Eisele-Miller won a state championship when he finished the 100 breaststroke in 56.87 seconds, which equaled a 0.01- second victory.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY

Park Hill (Jered Weger, senior; Daniel Speilhagen, junior; Danny Jones, junior; Marcin Glebocki, senior). The Trojans shaved more than a second off their preliminary race time to finish third at the Missouri state meet, completing the race in 3:13.32.

This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Lee’s Summit North’s Liam Bresette is The Star’s All-Metro Missouri boys swimmer of year."