MSHSAA Girls Class 1 State Swimming and Diving Championships
- February 20th, 2021
- St. Peters Rec-Plex, St. Peters, Missouri
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2021 MSHSAA Girls State – Class 1”
- Full Meet Results
Top 5 Teams
- Cor Jesu Academy – 236
- Parkway West – 183
- St Joseph’s Academy – 163
- Central (Cape Girardeau) – 145
- Clayton – 128
Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis made the most of their new-found how in Missouri’s Class 1. After competing last season in Class 2, which includes the largest high schools in Missouri, the school moved to Class 1 this year and took top honors in their first shot at the Class 1 State Championship meet.
While Cor Jesu won two of the three relays at the meet, it was 5th place Clayton who finished with the fastest time in the meet-opening 200 medley relay. The team of Caitlin Kuhlmann, Kellen Mottl, Jillian Thomason, and Anna Stouffer finished with the fastest time in the event by over a second, finishing in 1:48.92 to set a new Class 1 record. Making the swim even more impressive was that for three of the four girls, the swim was their first state championship race. Mottl, who is a junior, was the only member of the relay who was not a freshman.
Mottl later added a state title in the 100 breast in 1:04.55.
But a young Clayton team didn’t have the depth to hold on to that momentum throughout the meet – their 200 free relay was 18th and their 400 free relay was 8th. After that opening race, the wins came in droves for the eventual champions.
Cor Jesu won their first event in the 200 free, with junior Anna Moehn winning the race by three seconds in 1:50.39. In doing so, she broke the state Class 1 record. She added another big win later in the meet when she upset the defending champion, Lindsey Hervey, in the 500 free in a time of 4:57.55. Hervey had won the event for Father Tolton Catholic last year as a freshman. Hervey’s sister, Lauren, rounded out the top-3 in the event with a time of 5:05.11. Lauren is committed to swim at Illinois State next year.
Maddie Pallatt added a second event win for Cor Jesu, finishing with the top time and new Class 1 record in the 200 IM. The senior, who is committed to swim at Emory University next year, finished in 2:07.36. She was also the runner-up in the 100 back (57.30).
Beating Pallatt in the 100 back was two event champion, Maggie Moore. A junior at New Covenant, Moore won the 100 back in 56.33. This was Moore’s third straight year winning the event after winning in 2019 and 2020 while swimming for Summit Prep. The state record (54.39) in the event is held by her older sister, Molly, who now swims at the University of Arkansas. Moore also defended her title in the 50 free, where she finished in 23.50. Her sister holds the state record in that event as well (23.19).
Margo O’Meara won the 1-meter diving event in dominant fashion. O’Meara claimed her fourth straight title in the event, finishing with a score of 621.45, over 100 points ahead of second place. Last year she set the Class 1 and Overall state records with a score of 636.50. O’Meara is committed to dive for Duke University in the fall.
Freshman Norah Rutkowski of Parkway West claimed the state title in the 100 fly with a time of 58.09.
After winning the 100 free as a freshman last year, Makenzie Kurre fell to second this year as Andi Kreiling finished with the top time. Kreiling touched in 52.29, just .06 ahead of Kurre.
Cor Jesu Academy won, and set the Class 1 record, in both of the final two relays. In the 200 free relay Palatt, Ellie Weckherlin, Ashley Mather, and Moehn led the field by over a second to break the Class 1 record with a time of 1:38.23. On the 400 free relay Weckherlin was replaced by freshman Allie Maloney on a team that won in 3:34.55 for another Class 1 record. Moehn led the relay off in 51.97, the fastest swim across all relays.
