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Notebook: Parkway West Swimmers Excelling at State

The Parkway West swimming and diving team is targeting a top finish at the state Swimming & Diving Championships.

As the Parkway West swimming and diving team aims for a top-five finish at the 36th MSHSAA Girls Swimming & Diving Championships at St. Peters, Mo., the Longhorns appear poised for, at the very least, a great degree of individual success.

As Parkway West enters weekend competition, four individuals have placed in the top five in individual preliminary events. In the 200 freestyle on Thursday, senior Mary Beth Howard placed third with a time of 1:54.55. In the 50 freestyle, junior Kate Gately also placed third with a time of 24.33.

Gately also placed fourth with a time of 53.32 in the 100 freestyle. In the 500 freestyle, sophomore Taylor Maurer finished fifth at 5:06.54.

As for other area schools, in the 100 butterfly, Lafayette senior Taylor Paskoff, placed seventh with a time of 58.63. In the 500 freestyle, Lafayette freshman Mae Riordan finished ninth with a time of 5:11.20 while Marquette’s Tasha Porporis was 10th at 5:11.64.

In the 200 individual medley, Marquette senior Liza Poskin placed sixth with a time of 2:10.64. Teammate Abby Watson placed third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.03. Poskin also stood in second place in the 100 breaststroke at 1:05.36.

The Missouri Swimming Championships conclude Saturday evening.

Four Marquette football senior standouts signed letters of intent to play at Missouri Valley College, which is an NAIA school. Running back Dante McKinney, a first team Suburban West all-conference performer, will be joined by offensive lineman Thomas Sherman, who was also a first team all-Suburban West selection in the 2010 season.

The other two players are defensive back Deandre Cain and defensive lineman Ronnell Davis.

The high school basketball district schedules have been released and the fifth-seeded Parkway West boys will meet Eureka (4) in the Class 5 District Tournament at Lafayette at 6 p.m. on Monday. Marquette, No. 3-seed, will play sixth-seeded Rockwood Summit at 4 p.m.

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On the girls side at Lafayette, third-seeded Marquette will play Rockwood Summit (6) at noon on Monday. Parkway West, a No. 5-seed, will play (4) Parkway South at 2 p.m.

The Parkway West girls team is led by Maggie Wenstrup, who is scoring 14.9 points per game along with nine rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

For the JFK girls basketball team, district play is still nearly two weeks away. The Celts are 14-7, including a 6-5 in the AAA Conference. JFK enjoyed a 51-20 home rout over Herculaneum on Wednesday as leading scorer Paige Stewart scored 17 points. JFK will play next on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at John Burroughs (2-4, 9-9).

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