Very few athletes break a school record once in their high school career and are lucky to compete at state championships.
Junior Alexis (Lexi) Cook not only broke her school record three times but also won the MSHSAA Girls Class 2 State Championships in both of her individual events.
“I was really excited (about winning state). It meant a lot since each year before, a teammate had won their events, and I got to “carry on” that in a way,” said Lexi.
Lexi’s sister, freshman Livvy Cook, swam with her sister over the school’s swim season. She was at the state pool deck at the St. Peter’s Rec-Plex with her family, watching as her sister competed and won in both of her events.
“I wasn’t surprised because she was the fastest one there, but I was really excited for her to be state champ in both of her individual events. The whole team was proud of her because she has never been a state champ in her individual events in the past,” said Livvy.
Livvy wasn’t the only one who could tell that Lexi would win state. During the race at state, Lexi had a sense that she was winning while swimming.
“I could kind of tell whenever I was swimming in the race. I knew that if I could go out ahead or right with the second place swimmer that I would be able to win it, so at the 100m, I knew that I could finish it well,” Lexi said.
Lexi has been a competitive swimmer for the majority of her life, participating in competitions for 13 years. She has trained for the school’s varsity swim team since her freshman year and has competed in state events since then. She has won in team relays and cheered on her teammates as they won in their individual events.
“I had won relays and as a team in my freshman year, but winning an individual race was something I had been thinking about and working towards since before I even started my freshman year,” said Lexi.
But qualifying for state doesn’t come easy; the practices become harder and more individualized as the event approaches.
“Usually, we focus more on speed and event-focused training. Since the state team has qualified to be there, we do ‘harder’ practices since everyone can handle it,” said Lexi.
Freshman Lucia Weyers was on the varsity swim team and practiced alongside Cook during the season. Weyers also qualified for state for a relay and experienced state-bound practices for her first time.
“For state-bound swim practices, we worked really hard on our turns and breakouts as well as starts. She also put us in our own state lanes. Usually, all of us have the same set (workout) except Lexi; she is usually working on distance,” Weyers said.
In addition to winning the state championships, Cook has broken the school records for the following events over the season:
- 100m backstroke record: broken 5 or 6 times
- 200m freestyle: broken 4 times
- 500m freestyle: broken 3 times
“I would always look up at the board (with the school records) during practice and want to beat them. I was really excited to do that this year,” said Lexi.
Swim coach Blakeleigh Mathes has coached the South swim team since 2018 and has coached Cook since her freshman year. Mathes has coached numerous Parkway South swimmers to victory at state, including 2023 graduate Kylee Sullivan, who currently swims for Mizzou.
“I was very happy about Lexi winning state, obviously. I think we both knew that it was in the corridors, so I wasn’t very surprised. I knew she has wanted this for a very long time, so we were both extremely happy,” said Mathes.
In addition to Cook’s achievements, Mathes believes that Cook can further her talent and win more awards during her swim career.
“We will likely see Lexi repeat her events at state next year. She has verbally committed to swim for Mizzou, so I think swimming at the NCAA and the Olympic trials would be an exciting next step for her,” said Mathes.
Lexi plans on furthering her swimming career; she is committed to Mizzou to swim at the collegiate level, where she will be reunited with her former teammate, Sullivan.
“I’m really looking forward to it [swimming at Mizzou]. I loved my visit there, and there’s one of my past teammates on the team, which it will be really fun to get to train together again. My main goal was to swim in college, and I will be doing that, so now I want to qualify for the NCAA Championships for college swimming,” said Lexi.
Lexi’s personality and dedication on and off the swimming pool are admired by the rest of the swimming team, according to Livvy.
“I would describe her in the pool as hard-working, and off the pool she is funny and also hard-working on school work,” Livvy said.
Her commitment and achievements in swimming motivate the swim team to push themselves harder, so they can be as best as they can be, according to Weyers.
“[Lexi’s achievements] make me want to work harder so that, eventually, I can be half as good as her,” Weyers said.
When reflecting on the rest of her high school swim career, Lexi said, “I’m really grateful for my three years on the team at South; it truly has brought friendships and memories I couldn’t even have dreamed of. I’m really excited for my senior season and what that will bring.”
