Notre Dame swimming wins SEMO Conference championship

The Notre Dame boys swimming team was crowned SEMO Conference champions Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the Cape Aquatic Center.

Notre Dame sophomore Kaiden Cracraft won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:48.82. He also took home the gold in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:02.27.

“It’s definitely something different going from distance to a shorter race,” Cracraft said.

Dennis Hudson won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.88 and the 200-yard IM at 1:57.52.

The Bulldogs finished in the top three in the 100-yard butterfly. Senior Tom Haz won the event with a time of 56 seconds, while sophomore Wade Fullhart came in second less than a full second later. Notre Dame junior Parker Hulshof finished third in 57.69 seconds.

Notre Dame won both the 200-yard IM and freestyle relay, while Cape Central finished first in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Notre Dame sent a few relays to the state championships last year and is looking for much better results this time around.

“We hope to take first place in the 200 free and get top five in the 200 IM relay,” Cracraft said.

Cape Central senior Phineas Theall, last year’s Semoball Award winner, set a conference record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.09 seconds and a first-place finish. Right behind him was fellow Tiger swimmer Kent Sheridan, who finished second at 23.55. Theall also won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.38 seconds.

Jackson finished third in the 400-yard freestyle relay, led by senior Wade LaValle, who also finished second in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle races. Jan Handke finished second in the 100-yard backstroke and third in the 200-yard IM.

Poplar Bluff finished second in the 200-yard IM and third in the 200-yard relay. Owen McDaniel took second place in the 100-yard breaststroke. Cyrus Sagharichi finished third in the 50-yard and 200-yard freestyle. Henry Duncan finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly. Connor Wiggs finished third in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard IM.