As the girls swim season comes to an end, more and more swimmers are getting their state cuts and dropping time.

Stoaktown is a combined swim team of Staley, Oak Park and North Kansas City high schools. They are all from different schools in the same district but practice and attend meets together as one.

“Putting in the yards and time is easier when you have such a great group of girls pushing each other and having fun,” said junior Rachel Janiak.

Qualifying for state in swim is different from other sports. Someone could get last in a race, but if they hit a certain time, they go to state.

“Swim isn’t like football where going to state is based off of winning games. For swim, you have to meet a certain time requirement to go,” said sophomore Chase Kirby.

The team placed first in the white division of the Suburban Conference.

Freshman Ella McMahon earned first in diving with an All-American score, while senior Keely Carnes earned second.

Kirby made her first state time at the first meet of the season in the 400 free relay and has added the 200 medley relay, 100 free and 200 free relay to her list of state races.

This is Janiak’s third year qualifying for state. She met four of her individual state cuts this year, along with breaking her old conference time and is seeded sixth going into the state meet.

“It still is so exciting, and the feeling of looking at the scoreboard and seeing that time is indescribable,” said Janiak.

The state qualifiers will travel to St. Peters, Feb. 17 and 18 to compete.