Boys swimming spotlight: Parkway Central's Will Jost turned disappointment into gold

Parkway Central's William Jost won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle championships and anchored two winning relays last season in the Class 1 boys swimming and diving state championship meet. Michael Gulledge, Special to the Post-Dispatch

Will Jost could have let the disappointing results of his sophomore season state meet get his spirits down.

Instead, the Parkway Central standout swimmer made sure it had the opposite effect.

Here are five standout high school boys swimmers and divers in the St. Louis area to keep an eye on this fall.

Jost was part of a Colts’ 200-yard medley relay team that received a disqualification during the 2021 Class 1 preliminaries. And then in the 50 free final the next day, he was DQ’d from an event in which he posted the second-fastest time in the prelims.

That meant somewhere in the neighborhood of 56 team points possibly lost for Central, which still claimed a team trophy for a fourth-place finish but could have possibly come in as high as second.

“Honestly looking back on it now, I’m happy what happened my sophomore year happened,” Jost said. “Just because it helped me build and it was really motivation for me to work harder throughout last year and get better and get some revenge for that.”

Jost’s redemptive junior season was emphatically punctuated with the fact he was the only swimmer in either class to take home four gold medals (two individual and two relay) and he helped lead the Colts to their first team state title since 1978.

“The state meet his junior year 100 percent started 12 months earlier with the state meet of his sophomore year,” Central coach Andrew Schonhoff said. “He was pretty singular-focused that entire offseason. So, you’ve got sophomore year having a state meet that did not go so well and then junior year a state meet that could not have gone better, but that hasn’t tempered his drive or his work ethic or his motivation to improve at all.”

Jost’s individual titles last season came in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Perhaps the one thing that eluded him was the state record in the 100 free, as his time of 45.29 seconds was just one-hundredth of a second off Nevada’s Ben Hines record mark set in 2019.

“I wish if I could have done something differently on my turn, maybe I could have changed something, but that’s something I’m definitely gonna be looking forward to going for this year,” Jost said. “I haven’t (dropped time in the offseason) and me not dropping time kind of excites me because I’m thinking I’ve done it before, and I can do it again. I’m excited for what I can go in it.”

Jost also swam the anchor leg on the Colts’ state champion 200 medley and 200 free relay teams, the latter of which set a new Class 1 record in the event.

“Will’s junior year was definitely one in which he wanted to make a statement,” Schonhoff said. “It spoke a lot about who he is coming back from the disappointing state sophomore year. I think that was a fire that fueled him all offseason. From sophomore to junior year, he put a ton of work in, and he came back as the most dominant sprinter in the state.”

Parkway Central's William Jost, right, hugs Parkway West's Daniel Budiman during the Class 1 swimming championship, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Mo. Michael Gulledge, Special to STLhighschoolsports.com

The task for Jost and the Colts in his senior year is to try to recreate as much of the magic they made in the pool last season.

Central lost some key pieces including Jake Hansen and Quin Wolff, but it still brings back a talented core and welcomes some strong newcomers. Jost will be the one tasked with leading the defending state champions.

“The past couple years, I’ve been one of the better swimmers on the team but there was always that senior that was the guy that everyone went to for stuff,” he said. “I’m happy I can step up and help the kids. There’s a lot of freshmen that actually swam for my neighborhood team (River Bend) that I also coach, so it’s nice to see those kids that I coach during the summer are now my teammates so I can help them improve even more.”

Schonhoff is confident Jost will be just fine with even more of a leadership role this season.

“Even as a junior he wasn’t a captain, but we started to see him step more and more into a leadership role,” Schonhoff said. “Now as a senior, this is his team. He’s the clear leader on the team. He’s a vocal leader, but he also leads by example. It’s been just great to see his development.”

A few months ago, Jost announced his verbal commitment to swim in college at Purdue.

“I went on a visit there and my team went to a swim meet there, and I just loved the chemistry that the team had,” he said. “I liked all the people there. I got along with all the swimmers. The coach is amazing. And the pool is phenomenal. It’s a great natatorium. I love it.”

Schonhoff said Jost has what it takes to compete at a high level in the Big 10.

“Will’s got a very high ceiling because he’s obviously got the physical set you need there, but he’s also got the mental side of it,” Schonhoff said. “College athletics can be a grind, but I think he’s up for it.”

Before then, Jost and his teammates have a championship to defend, and he sees the Colts being on a same level as they were last season.

“Seeing how this team has been practicing the last couple days, it’s really amazing. Everyone is going fast,” Jost said. “We were good last year and this year we’re looking really good, which is something that’s super exciting for us.”

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Here are five standout high school boys swimmers and divers in the St. Louis area to keep an eye on this fall.