The Oakville Senior High School boys’ swimming and diving team recently had its best finish ever at the Missouri state championships when it scored 117 points to capture sixth place.

The team’s accomplishment was quite an honor, head coach Dan Schoenfeldt said.

“We have a very small team,” he said. “So to take sixth place with only five swimmers and one diver is quite an honor.”

The Tigers opened the meet, which took place Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay when senior Jeff Gansmann, senior Tom Diekemper, sophomore Jon Gannon and junior Ricky Kardell combined for a time of 1:40.21.

“That relay was a combination of having one person that excelled in each stroke,” Schoenfeldt said. “That race kind of got the team inspired and they were so excited after that finish.”

In the 200-yard individual medley, Gannon took fourth overall with a time of 1:57.79.

“It was amazing in that he set the school record with a 2:03 earlier in the season and broke that record by six seconds,” Schoenfeldt said. “He really went after it and came home strong.”

Senior Nick Stoppelmann grabbed ninth overall on the one-meter springboard with a score of 359.10.

“We’re happy that Nick came out again because he’s been battling back problems,” Schoenfeldt said. “For him to place at state with the problems he’s had, we were really happy about that.”

Oakville’s 200-yard freestyle relay of Diekemper, Kardell, Gansmann and senior Adam Daley placed fourth overall with a time of 1:29.97.

“That race was all about Adam Daley,” Schoenfeldt said. “He owned it and that really was completely about him.”

In the 100-yard backstroke, Gansmann took 12th overall with a mark of 56.06.

“What’s cool about that was that Jeff got off the medal stand for the 200-free relay and walked over to swim the 100 back. It was just an amazing effort,” Schoenfeldt said.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, sophomore Jon Gannon took sixth with a time of 1:00.48 and Diekemper grabbed 14th with a time of 1:03.02.

“Breaststroke is Jon’s specialty with the 200-yard breaststroke being his best event,” Schoenfeldt said. “Tom’s best time before this past weekend was a 1:03.09 when he was a freshman. But on Friday he went a 1:02 and we were just ecstatic.”

The Tigers finished the meet with a 10th-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay as Diekemper, Daley, Gansmann and Gannon clocked a time of 3:21.35.

“We had higher hopes for that relay,” Schoenfeldt said. “We got out a little bit slow, but Jon turned in a 48 to bring us back from 12th to 10th place.”