Stingrays Dominate Meet

By ERIC X. VICCARO

EVICCARO@STEGENHERALD.COM

The Ste. Genevieve Stingrays summer swim program punctuated a strong regular season by winning this past Saturday’s meet at River Rapids Waterpark.

The girls won by 79 points over Farmington, scoring 398 points to Farmington’s 319.

The boys racked up 335 points, topping Perryville by 124 points. Overall, the Stingrays combined for 733 points overall.

“Our first home meet (back in June) was wonderful and athletes worked incredibly hard, but as a team we were unable to score as many points as we would have hoped to,” noted Stingrays head coach Erin Ingram.

“Coming in fifth place at the first home meet made coming in first place at our last home meet taste so sweet,” Ingram continued.

For the Stingrays to score as many points as they did last weekend was nothing short of remarkable.

Ingram said the team works hard on turns and endurance, concentrating on those points seven months of the year.

The Stingrays have a smaller practice facilities than most other clubs do — with no diving area.

“It was exciting to see the outcome of all the hard work these kids put in when the points came out (Saturday),” Ingram added. “This was really an exciting and special race for these swimmers and parents.”

That’s especially the case when you realize the Stingrays were unable to have a competitive summer swim season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

CHAMPS MEET

The Stingrays season climaxes with the playoffs, beginning this Saturday at the CHAMPS meet in Kennett.

The first three swimmers in each age group will be verbally recognized. The first through 10th places in each event will receive medals, and 11th through 20th will receive ribbons.

In the relays, the first through fifth teams will earn medals and quartets finishing sixth through 10th will take home ribbons.