Swartz, Guest, Coulter named top Ottumwa senior athletes

May 19—OTTUMWA — The athletic talent of the Ottumwa High School Class of 2021 is quite deep.

Monday night's annual Ottumwa A-Club banquet proved just how talented the senior class is. Throughout the night, athletes stood and were honored after earning all-conference, all-district and all-state accolades throughout the course of the past year.

Perhaps it's no surprise that three plaques were required by the end of the night to honor the top male and female senior athletes of the year. Trae Swartz secured one after being named Ottumwa's top male senior athlete in the 2020-21 school year.

The other two went to the co-winners of the top female senior athlete at Ottumwa. Anne Guest and Meghan Coulter, two athletes that will look to shine at Drake Stadium in Des Moines later this week in the Class 4A girls portion of the Iowa High School State Track and Field championships, shared the honor on Monday inside the OHS auditorium closing out the annual year-end banquet honoring all Ottumwa High School athletic achievements.

"There were multiple female athletes in our class that had a good case for being named the top athlete," Guest said. "I felt like I had a good shot, but I also felt like there was a good chance I would be sharing the honor with someone. When it was announced that there were two winners, I was really happy. I think the award should recognize more than one person."

Coulter, one of four athletes to bring home the first state track and field titles in the history of the OHS girls program two years ago as part of the winning 4x800 relay team, started off the year with her best cross-country season. Leading the Bulldogs from the start of the season, Coulter earned all-conference accolades after finishing fifth in the CIML Iowa Conference meet setting a personal-best mark of 19:44.5.

The following week, Coulter clinched her first and only trip to run in the Class 4A girls state cross-country meet. The Ottumwa senior produced the second-fastest time among the senior runners in the field at the state qualifying meet hosted by Southeast Polk, finishing ninth overall in 20:37.2.

"It feels really nice to go out like this. I accomplished a lot of things this year that I'm really proud of," Coulter said. "It means a lot that my coaches believed in me enough and thought so highly of me to nominate me for this. It's humbling for Anne and I to follow in the footsteps of athletes like Alli (Bookin-Nosbisch, last year's OHS senior female athlete of the year), but it's also exciting to see all the talented girls that will be awarded this honor in the future."

Guest has earned all-conference honors in softball, basketball and was a four-year starter for the Ottumwa volleyball program earning all-state honors while collecting 754 career kills for the Bulldog spikers. Like Coulter, Guest's star has shined the brightest during track and field as the all-time program record holder in the high jump having reached 5-5 last March during a junior season that was cut off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Guest hopes to break her own record Thursday in her final bid to win the Class 4A girls state high jump title, going in seeded second after hitting a season-best mark of 5-4 at the state qualifying meet last week hosted by Iowa City West.

"It's very rewarding to be named one of the top senior athletes," Guest said. "It's not just about the accomplishments. It's nice that people have noticed what I've done and that I'm being rewarded for my hard work. It makes me feel like I did things the right way."

Coaches nominated Guest, Coulter, Zoey Jones, Chloe Schneckloth, Ally Paris and Emma Weilbrenner for the OHS senior female athlete of the year. Swartz was named the top OHS male athlete of the year after being nominated along with Jesue Jaime, Gatlin Menninga, Mitch Wood, Maxwell Thomason, Isaac Eaton, Joe Hammer and Kie Glosser.

Swartz began his senior season playing well enough to be named the most valuable player of the Ottumwa High School football, leading the team at tight end with 24 receptions for 337 yards and three touchdowns, good enough to earn an opportunity to play football next year at Iowa Western Community College. On the basketball court, Swartz scored over 1,000 career points earning all-state, all-district and all-conference honors while helping lead OHS to 29 wins over the past two seasons including a 16-6 record, the best mark for the program since qualifying for state in 2004.

"I couldn't have done this without the support of my teammates, my family and my friends," Swartz said. "When I watched Caleb Vasconez win this award as a sophomore, I starting thinking that might be me in two years. Look at me now? It's awesome."

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.