LADUE — Ava Wolf is making up for lost time.
After finishing fifth in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle finals at the Class 2 girls swimming and diving state championships two years ago as a freshman at Marquette, Wolf had to sit out last season after a transfer to St. Joseph's.
But she has had a stellar first season for the Angels this year and that continued Saturday with a pair of individual wins and a part in a record-breaking relay at the Metro Women's Athletics Association Championships at Ladue High's Ramming Athletic Center.
“Looking in from an outsider's point of view last season, I was so excited to get this whole team together,” Wolf said. “Coming in, I was super excited to meet new people and swim with new teammates because none of them swim on my club team (Rockwood Swim Club). I've met my best friends on this team and it's so exciting. I feel like a big aspect of swimming is having your friends there to push you.”
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The efforts of Wolf and fellow junior Leah Renner, who also won two individual events, helped St. Joseph's compile 501 points to win the conference team title over defending Class 2 runner-up Cor Jesu, which had 454 points.
“We kind of knew going into this that we had to swim fast and hard, and they did that,” Angels first-year coach Emma Luem said. “We're excited to have young people on the team and keep the program running.”
The Chargers, who won the Class 1 title two years ago before last year's second-place effort in Class 2, shook off an early disqualification to its winning 200 medley relay team to bounce back for a close second-place finish.
“I'm proud of them. They all swam hard,” said Cor Jesu assistant coach Elizabeth Birch, who was filling in for head coach Qi Franz as she was attending her daughter Karisa's senior meet at Virginia Tech. “All were dropping times, especially with those seed times going into the races. Getting ranked higher is always good and now we've just got to put our heads down and focus on state.”
Buoyed by a pair of individual wins, Nerinx Hall used showings of first, third and fourth place in last Sunday's one-meter diving event at Ladue to compile 356 points and hold off Villa Duchesne (351) for third.
Nerinx had a swimming champion with freshman Kate Punnewaert winning the 500 free (5:18), an event her sister Brooke finished seventh in at the Class 2 meet last season.
“Strong family history there with the Punnewaerts and Nerinx,” Markers first-year coach Katie O'Sullivan said. “Kate's done great this year. She's won a couple invites and her times look good for the state meet, so we'll hope for some great swims there in the 200 and the 500.”
Wolf won the 100 free Saturday with a time of 53.31 seconds, which is about a second off her time of 52.19 from the 2021 state meet. And she didn't swim the 50 on Saturday as she did at state two years ago, but instead competed in the 200 free and won that with a time of 1:53.50.
“(The 100 free) just got my adrenaline up and it was so nice not to feel too tired afterward because I was just happy,” Wolf said. “This is the first time I've really paced (the 200 free) properly. I didn't go out as fast and then I really was able to go fast at the end and that's something I haven't felt in a while.”
Wolf also teamed with sophomore Ellie Green, junior Cate Guenther and freshman Anna-Grace Guenther to win the 200 free relay in an MWAA-record time of 1:39.30.
“Anchoring that was intense, but I just knew what I had to do there and so did all my teammates in that relay,” Wolf said. “We just had to get in there and win. We had our mind set to do it, and we did.”
Renner's wins at the MWAA meet came in the 100 butterfly (56.46) and the 100 backstroke (57.69). She finished third and fourth, respectively, in those two events at the Class 2 meet last season.
“In the fly, I was happy I finally dropped time after a year or two. I kind of told myself I had to go and just swim it. I was hoping to finally break 57, so I was really happy when I saw that score,” Renner said. “I never really was a backstroker, but I've just got used to it. I had a hard time with it at the beginning, but I'm really happy with where I'm at right now.”
In her first year at the Angels' helm, Luem is thrilled to have a 1-2 punch like Wolf and Renner.
“They're leaders for the team, even as juniors,” Luem said. “And I think they're going to have a great senior year, too, next year.”
Cor Jesu senior Caroline Foltz was also a double winner Saturday in the 200 individual medley (2:06.74) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.50). The Indiana signee was third in Class 2 in the 200 IM last season and won the 100 breaststroke state title in her first year as a Charger after transferring from Salem, Ill.
“I feel like it went pretty good for me today,” Foltz said. “I definitely have some work to do going into state. I know I'll be faster at state and I'm just excited to see what happens.”
Foltz also teamed with senior Ellie Weckherlin and juniors Ava Craig and Allie Maloney to win the 400 free relay with an MWAA-record time of 3:31.93, just ahead of St. Joe's time of 3:32.92. Both easily eclipsed last year's record mark of 3:35.62 by a Cor Jesu team that featured All-Metro swimmer of the year Anna Moehn, who now is at Penn.
“It's awesome, especially because Anna was a big part of our team last year,” Foltz said. “Just to see everyone working their butts off the succeed, not just in their individuals but the relay, is awesome.”
Villa senior Madelyn Schoedel was a two-time winner Saturday, as she claimed the 50 free title (24.84) and led off the Saints' winning 200 medley relay, which also consisted of freshman Charlotte Brown, sophomore Grace Kraeger and senior Katherine Roderick. Schoedel tied for third in the 50 free at last year's Class 1 state meet.
“I feel good about it (the 50 free). I went faster at COMO (Invitational), but I knew I just wanted to be sub-25, so I feel fine going into state,” Schoedel said. “It (the 200 medley relay win) was a good start to the meet. We all swam really well, I think. I'm excited for state to see what happens in that.”
Nerinx senior Rani McBride won the diving event (365.95) last weekend just ahead of St. Joe's senior Margot Dolan (353.65) and Markers junior teammates Sabrina Chapman (331.30) and Laine Wilhelm (315.60).
“That's great because we scored 52 points, so they had 52 points going into the meet, which was the difference between third and fourth,” said Nerinx diving coach Jill O'Sullivan, Katie's mother. “Rani was second last year and she scored, I believe, over 40 points higher in this year's meet. She qualified for district (next weekend) really early in the season and I would say right now she's ranked about 10th in the state, so she should make the finals.”
