CJ places fifth, Joplin sixth at Monett girls swim meet on Saturday

Dec. 17—MONETT — Despite the absence of a state champion and another state qualifier, the Carl Junction girls swim team still managed a fifth-place finish and the Joplin girls finished sixth among the 13-team field at the Monett Invite on Saturday at the Monett Area YMCA.

Carl Junction had to do without the points from last year's 50-yard freestyle state champion Chloe Miller, and Elyanna Dogotch, another state qualifier, as they attended a Pro-Am meet in Dallas this weekend.

CJ Coach Stephanie Miller said Saturday's meet was an opportunity to try swimmers in new spots early in the season.

"We'll be looking at building some depth for later meets," Miller said.

West Plains claimed the team title with 458 points, followed by Lebanon with 279. Logan-Rogersville was third with 254 points, Monett followed in fourth with 237. CJ racked up 167 points and Joplin had 133.

Joplin's Kiki Thom finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:19.28 and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:10.14. The 100-yard breaststroke is a new event for Thom in her high school swimming career.

Joplin coach Juianna Hughes said of Thom: "She is milliseconds from the 50-free state consideration time and she's about two seconds away from the 100-butterfly state consideration time, so it's exciting to see her as she competes in those events."

The Bulldog 200-yard freestyle relay team of Lilian Schultz, Avari Fifer, Kiley Brenneis and Elsa Dogotch finished fourth with a time of 1:57.79.

Other top-five finishers for the Bulldogs included the 200-yard medley relay team of Brenneis, Jenna Besperat, Schultz and Fifer. They finished fifth with a time of 2:16.93. Schultz also finished fifth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:47.94 — almost seven seconds faster than her seed time of 2:54.88.

Elsa Dogotch was fifth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 6:44.35; she clipped 15 seconds from her seed time of 6:59.88.

"All of the girls are dropping times with each meet," Hughes said of her Joplin team. "We have a pretty good, solid team. It's smaller this year, but overall, we're seeing a really good work ethic from the girls and the camaraderie is just amazing."