Personal bests highlight Zizzers’ 16th-place finish at Springfield Invitational
Published 6:51 pm Tuesday, October 27, 2026
The West Plains boys swimming and diving team finished 16th out of 30 schools at the Springfield Invitational on Saturday.
“The Zizzers had a lot of great swims against high-quality competition from around the state,” West Plains Head Coach Ryan Smith said.
In 1-meter diving, Chance Bradfute paced the team by placing seventh with a score of 240.30. Alec Morrison took 11th in the 200-yard individual medley with a personal-best 2:18.50, and 13th in the 100 backstroke with a personal-best 1:01.79. Tanner Land finished 14th in the 100 butterfly with a personal-best 1:02.32.
Matthew Stewart recorded a personal-best 6:27.68 in the 500 freestyle for 16th place, adding another personal best of 29.23 in the 50 freestyle. Smith noted Stewart had the time drop of the meet for West Plains, cutting more than 25 seconds off his 500 freestyle.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Morrison, Rhys Kerley, Land and Dane Kirby placed 13th with a season-best 1:56.83. The 200 freestyle relay team of Morrison, Kerley, Kirby and Land also took 13th, clocking a season-best 1:44.51.
Other top performances included Kerley, who swam a personal-best 1:14.11 in the 100 breaststroke for 19th place and a season-best 2:02.90 in the 200 freestyle for 18th. Kirby added season-best times in the 100 freestyle (1:03.55) and 100 breaststroke (1:22.77).
The Zizzers return to the pool at 1 p.m. Thursday for the Southwest Missouri Championships in Springfield. Smith said the team is aiming for a top-10 finish after placing seventh last year. Swimmers will also look to lower their state consideration cuts ahead of the state championship meet Nov. 13 and 14 in St. Peters.
