Home pool advantage

Not many teams can boost a perfect home record. The Hannibal Lady Pirates swim team can.

Sure the Lady Pirates only have one home meet this season, but Hannibal dominated Oakville on Thursday afternoon to pick up the dual win. At the Hannibal YMCA in front of a large crowd, the Lady Pirates won 10 of the 11 events to both open and close its home schedule with a win.

“This is the meet the girls look forward to the most,” Hannibal head coach Rachel Smith said. “Their friends from school come and watch and all the parents can come. It’s something we look forward to the whole year.”

Hannibal started off the meet by going one-two in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Taylor Bennett, Kay Gieseke, JaLynn Gieseke and Meredith Voss touched the wall first with a time of 1:57.33. Rebekah Land, Emily Abel, Tessa Bienick and Allie Land finished in second with a time of 2:01.82.

In the next event, Hannibal went 2-for-2 with first place finishes. In the 200-yard freestyle, JaLynn Gieseke beat the field with a time of 2:02.67. Samantha Cockrell picked up a third place finish and Bennett a fourth in the event.

Rebekah Land was the first to finish in the 200-yard individual medley. Never trailing in the race, Land touched the wall six seconds before teammate Kay Gieseke, who came in second.

Voss gave Hannibal its fourth first place finish in as many events in the 50-yard freestyle. Her time of 26.32 bested the field. Allie Land was right behind Voss in second place with a time of 27.57.

After Voss’ win, the event took a break for Hannibal to honor its three seniors. Emily Richards, Lyndsie Heibel and Abel were recognized for their contributions to the team in their final home meet.

“Every single one of our seniors did their personal best today, so that’s a big plus,” Smith said.

Following the break, Oakville and Hannibal returned to the pool and the Lady Pirates got back to winning events. JaLynn Gieseke picked up her second win of the meet in the 100-yard butterfly by going 1:01.06. Bienick claimed third place in the event with her time of 1:07.83.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Hannibal picked up yet another win. This time it was Kay Gieseke. With her time of 56.16 — the only swimmer to complete the race in less than minute — she brought home her first first-place finish. Allie Land finished the race in third place.

The next event was the 500-yard freestyle. In the long-distance event, Cockrell dominated the field. She completed her 20 laps in 5:48.53. The second place finisher, Voss, touched the wall at 6:05.37.

“Samantha’s been working very hard in practice,” Smith said. “She’s gained a lot of distance. Her intensity in practice has been a lot better than what she had been doing years before. Distance could be her thing, she just kept going. She definitely has some distance swimming on her.”

Win No. 8 came in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Kay Gieseke, Alex Plowman, Cockrell and JaLynn Gieseke won the event for Hannibal.

Event nine proved to be Hannibal’s most dominating showing of the day. In the 100-yard backstroke, the Lady Pirates claimed the top three spots. Rebekah Land took first, followed by Bienick in second and Bennett in third place.

“The backstroke event was really awesome to watch,” Smith said. “They all had really good times on that.”

Oakville finally broke the Hannibal stranglehold on first in the 100-yard breast stroke. Abel was the highest finishing Lady Pirate, finishing in second place.

In the final event of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Hannibal got back to its winning ways. Cockrell, Allie Land, Bienick and Voss picked up first place in the event to give Hannibal 10 wins in 11 events.

“That’s great — that’s exceptional,” Smith said. “... The only one we didn’t win was the breaststroke, and all those girls did their personal best time, so I’m very happy with their times.”

The event concludes the regular season for the Lady Pirates. Next up on the schedule is Saturday’s Hickman’s Last Chance, a final opportunity for swimmers to get State cuts. After that, the State meet from Feb. 19 to Feb. 20.