Talk about a close cut.

Jon Lowrance made the state cut by .1 seconds in the breast stroke and will be the only Cape Central Tiger in the state swimming meet this year. The meet will be held Friday at the City of St. Peters Rec-Plex.

At the Springfield Invitational almost two weeks ago, Lowrance cut two seconds off his personal best and finished in a time of 1:06.04.

"He's just one-tenth under the cut, but I still feel we can swim Saturday," said Central swimming coach Dayna Powell. "His drops have been in 2-second increments. I think the breast stroke has been a slower event at state and maybe a four could swim the second day.

"He can really get in a mental zone. A lot of really gifted athletes can't focus like he can. And he's got nothing to lose. He doesn't have to worry about team points or anything and he can just go out there and give it all he's got. All year he has swam like it was the last race of the year."

This has been a rebuilding year for Central's swimming program. First, they had to rebuild the Bubble, which was damaged by a storm and put the team behind schedule by about a month. On top of that, the Tigers lost a talented group of seniors from last year's team that boasted state qualifiers in 10 of the 12 events and finished fifth in the state.

But there was just one senior on the team this year and Lowrance leads a group of nine juniors who are already gearing up for next year.

"This is just good to get the experience for him to swim in the state meet," said Powell. "We already have big plans for next year. It seemed like the season was over just when we were hitting our stride."