Area Swimmers Dazzle at Clayton Shaw Park Swim Meet

The Clayton Shaw Park Tideriders Summer Invitational has been a part of  summer for Annie Goessling for as long as she can remember.

"I have competed in this meet every summer since I was about eight," said Goessling, who will be a senior this fall at MICDS. "It has become a tradition and I really like this meet and like to do well since it is our home."

And Goessling did quite well indeed at the 73rd annual meet winning a pair of events and also setting two personal records.

"I'm overjoyed with the way things worked out this weekend," Goessling said. "There are a lot of good athletes here with some older college kids. We are in a hard training phase right now so you don't expect to have personal bests."

Goessling had personal bests in both the 200-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle.

But her championships came in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The Tideriders, who were not eligible for the team championship being the host team of the meet, finished one-two in the 400-relay in the girls open division.

Goessling teamed with Maddie Wall, Elizabeth Krane and Etinosa Ogbevoen to win the event.

Morgan Mullenix, Mary Beth Howard, Grace Stiegemeyer and Sarah Fauska finished second.

Goessling will not have the pleasure of being a teammate at MICDS with Sarah Finlay. Finlay will only be entering the eighth grade this fall at MICDS.

"Sarah is an unbelievable swimmer," Goessling said.

And Finlay was certainly unbelievable over the weekend.

"My goal coming into this meet was to get the high point award," said Finlay, who lives in Town and Country.

Goal achieved as Finlay won four events in the 13-14 age division. Finlay won the 100 back, 200 back, 200 free and 400 free.

"There was some pretty tough competition here," Finlay said. "The backstroke is my favorite event. I was probably most proud of the 200 free in this meet because that championship was not expected."

Finlay has already had a busy summer which included the Open Water Nationals in Fort Lauderdale two weeks ago.

"That was my first open water swim and it was a lot of fun," said Finlay of the 5K ocean swim.

Finlay will have a meet later in the summer in Indiana and she is preparing for sectionals in Columbia and the zone meet in Topeka, Ks.

Finlay and teammates Maggie Cox, who finished third in the open 400-free, Lydia Welty and Nicole Maurer finished second in the 400-free relay in the 13-14 division.

Christopher Reichert had an outstanding meet for the Tiderider boys. He won the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke in the boys 13-14 age division.

Alex Glogoza had four top four finishes for the Tideriders in the open division. He was second in the 200-back and fourth in the 100-back and 100-free. He teamed with Cody Friedhoff, Tim Benage and Luke Sloan to finish second in the 400-free relay.

More than 700 swimmers took place in this annual swim meet bonanza. Weather played a role, delaying or canceling certain races. The threat of lightening forced organizers to clear the pool deck several times over the course of the three day event.

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