Eagles girls swimming return experienced team for 2025

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
 
The Grain Valley girls swimming and diving team is growing.
 
The Eagles are coming into the season with 17 swimmers and divers and return five swimmers who qualified for the Missouri State High School Girls Swimming and Diving Championships in 2024.
 
“We are super excited for this year, because this is the most girls we have ever had,” senior Katelyn Epple said. “It’s still a pretty new program for our school.”
 
Added head coach Julie Reilly: “We have four freshmen coming in and two girls who moved to Grain Valley. We originally had 28 during tryouts, but it dropped down to 17.”
 
Grain Valley had six all-state finishes last season and qualified in 13 out of 14 events in 2024. The team is looking to make a leap going into 2025-26 as it lost only one senior from last season’s team.
 
Epple was one of those swimmers who has experience swimming in the state meet. She qualified in the 100- and 200-meter freestyle and normally missed out on an all-state honorable mention honor in the former event after losing a swim off for 16th place.
 
This season, she will be looking for the first all-state finish of her high school career.
 
“I am working on improving my strength and getting faster,” Epple said. “I’m working on the 200 free and 100 free. I am working on getting faster and to get a better place in the state.”
 
Seniors Elizabeth Martin and Kaili Beard return with two all-state honors each. Martin was honorable mention in two events as she took 11th in the 200 individual medley and 15th in the 500 freestyle. This season, she is going to swim following a torn labrum injury and said she will have to fight through it.
 
“I am not sure what my goals are for the season yet,” Martin said. I just want to develop all of my strokes. In the past, I have specialized in long-distance races, but with an injury, I have been switching it up.”
 
Beard was the only Eagle who earned an outright all-state honor as she was sixth in the 50 free with a time of 24.96 seconds. She also was honorable mention in the 100 butterfly as she took 11th.
 
She said her style of swimming is more suited for sprinting events and she is aiming to cut time and place higher at state this season.
 
“I feel like I have a better tempo,” Beard said. “I am not very good at pacing myself so I do better at quicker events. I think I am going to stick with the butterfly and freestyle. I want to make all state in at least one of my events or both and place higher than I did last year.”
 
Beard, Epple and Martin were also a part of the all-state, 8th-place 200 freestyle relay team and the 13th-place 400 free relay team in 2024.
 
The Eagles also return senior Emily Holzwarth, who was a state qualifier in the 100 backstroke and Caroline Hooper returns as she was a part of the state-qualifying 200 IM team.
 
“I hope to make top 16 this year and make it to the finals,” Holzwarth said. “I see a lot of high level backstrokers stay underwater for most of it. It’s hard to make it halfway underwater, but I want to get to that level.”
 
The Eagles also have two new divers and one of their four freshmen is the fourth fastest swimmer on the team, Reilly said.
 
With a handful of returning swimmers coming back from the 2024 team, Grain Valley could make a run at a Suburban White Conference title this season. Last season, the Eagles were just two points out from getting first place.
 
“We are hopeful that we can win the conference meet this year,” Epple said. “We also hope to win some smaller meets like the Belton Invitational.”

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From left, Caroline Hooper, Emily Holzwarth, Kaili Beard, Katelyn Epple and Elizabeth Martin are a part of a Grain Valley girls swimming and diving team returning a good amount of experienced swimmers for the 2025-26 season. Photo credit: Michael Smith, Grain Valley News