Parkway South, Marquette would like to stop Lafayette’s conference winning streak

Lafayette will be gunning for its 28th consecutive conference swim meet and the other Suburban West schools will be out to thwart the Lancers.

It’s 27 in a row and counting for coach Todd Gabel’s girls swimming squad.

The conference meet begins Thursday (Feb. 9) and ends Friday. Preliminaries begin at 4 p.m. Thursday at Lindbergh. The finals on Friday also begin at 4 p.m.

Gabel said his girls like swimming at Lindbergh.

“It’s a big pool,” Gabel said. “It’s a deep pool and that makes for faster times.”

Parkway South Patriots coach Sara Gerth agreed.

“The girls really like swimming at Lindbergh,” Gerth said. “It’s a new pool and they tend to swim fast there. We swam at the Lindbergh invite early in the season and won. The girls feel good about swimming there.”

The size of the pool is good for racing, Marquette Mustangs coach Joe Schoedel said.

“A 10-lane pool allows us the luxury of a warmup lane continuously throughout the meet,” Schoedel said. “It’s a great facility, and the all-deep pool should allow for some fast swims. We just had a dual meet there last week, and multiple girls had personal bests.”

As far as the conference winning streak goes, Gabel said it’s nice but what happens the following week at the state meet Feb. 17-18 at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters is bigger.

“I don’t know if it’s all that important,” Gabel said about winning conference. “It’s more important what we do at state. As a coach, that’s more important than conference. Winning conference is a point of pride.  It’s something we want to continue to do.”

Gabel has discussed conference with his squad.

“Sure, we’ve talked about it. We’re talking more about making state cuts and that’s what they’re going to be doing at state.”

The conference is “pretty even” throughout the teams, Gabel said.

“I think it’s up for grabs,” Gabel said about favorites to win the meet. “I think Parkway South and Marquette have good shots to win it. I would like to think we do, too. I think it’s up any of those three team to take it this year.

“It’ll be tight and fun. Hopefully, we’ll have some fast times.”

Schoedel said his girls have a good shot at winning the meet.

“They (Lafayette) are going to have some stiff competition between us and Parkway South,” said Schoedel. “The girls know I have high expectations for them.”

The Suburban West and Suburban South used to have crossover meets where the schools would be divided into two meets. Marquette won one of those in 2004.

Parkway South grabbed one two years ago.

Parkway South defeated Lafayette in a dual match earlier this season.

“We are a lot stronger than we’ve ever been since I’ve been coach at South,” Gerth said. “The Suburban West Conference is strong, but this year I think we can be the strongest if we swim they way we should.

“The girls do look forward to this meet because they are ready to feel rested and swim fast. There is also some pressure for some of them because it’s their last chance to qualify for state. I always tell the girls to go into races thinking about the little things, such as technique and turns, and forget about the competition and state cuts. Same goes for this meet.”

Among the Lancers who have good shots at winning events are sophomore Mae Riordan (200 and 500 free), junior Laura Paskoff (50 and 100 free), junior Taylor Holz (200 IM and 100 butterfly), freshman Claire Kirchhoefer (200 IM and 100 breaststroke), junior Kelly Shaw in diving.

“I think conference is a good opportunity for kids to make state cuts,” Gabel said. “We have seven girls that are qualified and we’d like to see two or three more that could make state cuts.”

Gerth said Samm Crocker (50 and 100 free), Melanie Wilkes (100 back) and Mary McCain ( 100 breast) are threats to win events for the Patriots.

“This meet will definitely help the girls get prepared for state, either because they will make a cut, or because they will be starting to feel good in the water and get their confidence up,” Gerth said.

Several Mustangs also could win some events, Schoedel said.

“Our best shots at winning events are the 200 Medley relay, the 200 IM (junior Natasha Porporis), and the 100 Backstroke (sophomore Abby Watson). While wins may be scarce, our depth could place all four entries in multiple events, including diving,” Schoedel said.

Marquette could add to its total of four girls having achieved state cuts.

“We could legitimately add four more after this weekend,” Schoedel said. “Those who already have state cuts are already looking ahead to state rankings and matchups to see the best events for them to swim. The excitement level has been building over the last few weeks, and this weekend should be fast and fun.”