Since the first dive off the starting blocks, our Crusader swimmers were striving for State. With high expectations, Coach Jacquie Moutray’s team made a huge splash. Ending the season with an amazing 20-4 record and winning first place in the AAA Conference Championship, the St. Dominic swim team finished a great season by sending six total girls to the 2017 State finals.

St. Dominic is considered the “on-the-rise” swim team by STL Today. Since the start of the season, they have had girls constantly qualifying for State. The notorious Nelson sisters, junior Sarah and freshman Kate, dominated in the Fort Zumwalt North Invitational early on in the season. Combined, they took first place in six events, claiming St. Dominic’s first tournament trophy. They are not twins, but their strength and speed in the lanes are identical.

“I think Kate was really the missing puzzle piece for our team and for qualifying a relay for state. It’s been amazing watching her push herself so hard at practice in order to do her best at meets. I can’t wait to see her hard work pay off at State,” said Sarah Nelson.

For senior Alexis Liszewski, this year at State was bittersweet. For the past three years, Liszewski has qualified and competed in State. Early this season, she qualified in the 50-yard freestyle sprint, with a time of 00:25.38.

“The biggest difference this year is having a relay going to state this year. It’s an amazing opportunity to compete with these girls but I wish I had one more year to see how good we could be,” said Liszewski.

Along with the State veterans, Kate Nelson will be joining her sister and her teammates this year. She qualified for the 100-yard freestyle and breaststroke, with times of 00:55.53 and 1:10.06. She will swim alongside her sister, Sarah, who will be competing in the 10-yard butterfly and 200-yard IM.

“I look up to my teammates because they have many achievements and experiences I can ask about and they can show me how I can achieve my goals too,” said Kate.

While St. Dominic was represented in many individual events, they also qualified to compete in two relay events. Liszewski, Sarah and Kate Nelson and junior Madeline Stransky competed in the 200-yard medley and the 200-yard freestyle relays. This is the first time in years St. Dominic has qualified for State in a relay. Alternates who also went to State for St. Dominic include senior Shannon Krekeler and freshman Payton McDowell. Newcomer and diver, junior Annie Neumann, also qualified for state with her record-breaking conference scores. Due to the technicality of too many base-level dives, she sadly couldn’t compete at State this year.

The school-wide state send-off was held on Wednesday, February 15, where the entire team was also recognized for their outstanding season. State preliminaries were held on Friday, February 17. Although the girls had fantastic times in the preliminaries, this years field was extremely fast. Unfortunately, this didn’t allow any of the ladies to qualify for the finals on Saturday, but it was truly an amazing year for the SDHS swimmers.