Top Cape, ND swimmers enduring 'difficult' final season

Notre Dame senior swimmer Drew Barber competes in the 200 IM race at the recent SEMO Conference Swim Meet in Cape Girardeau.

Tony Capobianco ~ Tcapobianco@semoball.com

Cape Central senior Jack Maxton and Notre Dame senior Drew Barber come across as two of the more easy-going people around. That is a good thing because their final season of athletic competition has been “difficult,” as Barber put it politely.

The two swimmers were among the best in Missouri a year ago, but given the “difficult” hands both have been dealt over the past eight months, it remains to be seen how each will perform at next week’s MSHSAA Class 1 State Finals.

“I’m in shape,” Maxton said at Tuesday’s SEMO Conference Swim Meet, “but I wish I was in better shape.”

The global pandemic has wreaked havoc on the lives of athletes throughout the world and at all levels, and Barber and Maxton aren’t immune to that. However, the two – and all the swimmers in this area – have been dealt a double blow by having their training facility shut down, as well.

When the Central Municipal Pool was closed in September due to leaks (it is projected to be open later this month), it sent the high school teams at Notre Dame, Cape Central, and Saxony Lutheran in search of a place – any place – to train.

Those teams crammed into the six-lane facility at the Southeast Missouri State Student Recreation Center, as well as Jackson already using that facility, to try and get some semblance of training completed.

“It’s been rough,” Notre Dame and Saxony Lutheran coach Joe Graves said. “When (Central Municipal) was taken down and we had to go outside and do dryland (training), that was a little rough. But once we made some arrangements and got some water time, the guys just kind of buckled down.”

Cape Central senior swimmer Jack Maxton prepares for his 100 fly race at the recent SEMO Conference Swim Meet in Cape Girardeau.
Tony Capobianco ~ Tcapobianco@semoball.com

Graves said his swimmers “got back to where they were fairly quickly.” However, back to where they were in early September, after not training normally since the spring, and back to where they could be heading into the pinnacle of their high school careers, are two different things.

“I feel like I haven’t gotten the training that I need,” Maxton said. “But I feel like I can still go fast.”

He can. But it remains to be seen if he can win a state title.

A year ago, Maxton placed third in the state finals in the 100 fly with a time of 50.64. The only returning swimmer in that event faster than Maxton is Smithville senior Nathan Noll, who beat Maxton by a mere .06 seconds.

At Tuesday’s conference meet, Maxton won the event in a time of 52.75.

“I felt pretty good about (that race),” Maxton said afterward. “I haven’t hit 52 since the Cape Rock (Invitational). I wanted to go a little bit faster. I wanted to go a 51 to seed myself better at state.”

Swimming Roundup, Nov.3: Notre Dame wins boys team SEMO conference championship

Semoball

Notre Dame won the boys SEMO Conference Swim Meet Tuesday held in Cape Girardeau.
The Bulldogs finished first with 437 points, followed by Cape Central (311), Farmington, 249, Poplar Bluff (248), Jackson (171), and Saxony Lutheran 151).

Maxton took fifth in the 100 breast at last year’s state meet in a time of 1:01.08. At the SEMO meet, he won the event in 1:03.95.

The top area swimmers have had their training cut in half this season.

Maxton and Barber used to train in the mornings with their club team, River City Aquatics, before practicing with their high school team in the afternoon. That is no longer an option.

Now, the area teams are training just under 90 minutes, but in crowded lanes, and that is it.

“We try to keep up the same intensity as if we were doing doubles,” Barber explained, “but we can’t get in all of that time.”

Asked if he felt prepared for the state finals, Barber said “as prepared as we can get, I guess.”

Barber placed seventh in the 50 free in last year’s state finals but has spent this season training in his “off events,” which include stroke events such as the 200 IM, 100 back, and 100 fly.

He has broken Notre Dame records in those events, which is a testament to his ability, given those are his “off events.”

“He has put so much effort into swimming,” Graves said of Barber, “it is nice to see him get the rewards. He has put a lot of work into this and is trying to get all of his ducks in a row in this last push through the end of this season.”