Ashleigh Cruce turned in the best two performances in the 100-yard butterfly of a still brief three-year career.ee
In the process, Platte County’s junior standout advanced out of Friday’s preliminaries in the Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Rec-Plex in St. Peters. She finished 15th in Saturday’s consolation final and accounted for the Pirates’ only two team points in a state meet that that brought an end to the careers for seniors Ireland Shank and Chloe Pegler while putting on display the future of the program.
Cruce earned Platte County’s only individual state berths and competed in both the 100 Butterly and 100 breaststroke for a second straight season. She joined the team as an inexperienced freshman and continues an impressive trajectory.
On Friday, Cruce posted the No. 16 time in the 100 butterfly preliminaries at 1 minute, 3.01 seconds, cutting more than a second off of her state qualifying time (1:04.04). She then moved up a spot in Saturday’s final with another career-best, this time 1:02.81 to place 15th.
Platte County sent only four events total to state with Cruce involved in three. She swam on the Pirates’ 200 medley relay with Pegler, Shank and sophomore Mackenzie Johnson. The Pirates were 21st in preliminaries at 2:01.50 — just off their seed time but more than 2 seconds out of a spot in the consolation semifinals.
That proved to be the final race for Shank and Pegler.
Platte County’s 400 freestyle relay included Johnson, junior Erin Anderson and sophomores Alex Yurko and Ronnie Benford. Anderson and Yurko both made state debuts, helping the Pirates post the No. 29 preliminary time of 4:07.09, about 2 seconds off the season-best of 4:05.41.
Entering the season, Platte County’s roster included five swimmers with prior state experience and all returned this past weekend.
A fourth-year senior, Shank previously qualified in the 100-yard butterfly in her first three seasons, while Cruce made her individual debut in the 100 butterfly (22nd) and the 100 breaststroke (31st) as a sophomore. She again came in 31st in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries at 1:16.90, well off her career-best.
The top 32 in each event make the state field with swimmers limited to two individual events and two relays or three relays if qualified in one or fewer event, meaning those without a top-32 time end up making the field. The top eight times in preliminaries advance to the all-state championship final while the next eight go to the honorable mention consolation final.
A year ago, Pegler made her state debut in the 200 medley relay team with Cruce. Shank, Pegler and Cruce were on two relays each a year ago, while Benford and Johnson’s only prior experience came in the 400 freestyle relay as freshmen. The Pirates sent all three relays a year ago, but that number dropped to two this season.
Shank ended up swimming on seven state relays in her career, which includes a 13th-place honorable mention all-state 200 medley relay as a sophomore. Pegler swam only two years and competed in three events but never advanced out of preliminaries.
