WEBB CITY — For the second straight year, the Carthage Tigers were celebrating at the conclusion of the Central Ozark Conference boys swimming and diving championships.
Led by seven event wins, Carthage repeated as COC champs on Tuesday night at the Buck Miner Swim Center on the campus of Webb City High School. The Tigers topped the team standings with 324 points.
"Last year was the first year we'd ever won it, and we graduated four seniors and lost a couple of other kids," Carthage coach Braden McBride said. "So this really came as a surprise. Joplin has the best swimmer in the conference in Nathan Wardlow. Ozark has Steve Boyce as their coach and he's won state championships. And I've learned so much from Shawn Klosterman. The fact that we won this year's meet is awesome. It's not just the guys who earn the medals and get on the podium, we've got a lot of guys scoring points. Those guys scoring the seventh, eighth and ninth place points really matter and are big for our program."
Host Webb City was second in the team standings with 233 points and Joplin took third with 205.
"I'm pretty happy, we had some good swims," Webb City coach Shawn Klosterman said. "We had some guys move up and that's what you always look for. It's always an inspired meet. Carthage is loaded, so they're pretty untouchable this year. Joplin has some studs this year, and I thought they were going to get us. We pulled off second place, so we're happy with that."
Nixa (180), Ozark (93) and Republic (92) rounded out the team standings.
CARTHAGE HIGHLIGHTS
The Tigers won two of the three relays and also took first in five individual events.
"Our boys competed well and they did everything we thought they'd need to do tonight," Coach McBride said. "It was a great night."
Carthage's 200-yard medley relay team of Kellen Frieling, Braxton McBride, Will Wright and Maveric Allphin took first with a time of 1:47.
The Tigers won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:34, with Braxton McBride, Frieling, Aydan Nye and Wright competing.
Carthage finished second in the 200 freestyle, as Allphin, Daryl Martin, Ben Rogers and Nye recorded a time of 1:42.
Braxton McBride and Frieling each won two individual events.
A junior, McBride won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.15 seconds and the 100 freestyle in 51.71 seconds.
A senior, Frieling took first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.46 seconds and also captured gold in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.69 seconds.
A sophomore, Wright won the 100 breaststroke in 1:05. Wright also finished second in the 200 IM.
The Tigers received big points in several other events. Allphin finished third in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 50 free, while Martin took fourth in the 100 free and Noah Blackford finished fourth in the 100 backstroke.
Also, Ryan Steinbach took sixth in the both the 200 IM and the 500 free, Emerson Ixcol took sixth in the 100 backstroke, Carter Yost finished seventh in the 200 IM and Rogers took seventh in the 500 free.
"Kellen, Braxton and Will have committed to being year-round swimmers," Coach McBride said. "They lead us, but they've got a lot of other guys with them. It was a total team victory."
CENTRAL OZARK CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team standings: Carthage 324, Webb City 233, Joplin 205, Nixa 180, Ozark 93, Republic 92.
