The St. Xavier men (335 points) had their state championship wrapped up by the end of the 100 butterfly Saturday night. Cincinnati Moeller (134 points) and Hudson (127 points) finished as the runner-up and third place team on the weekend. The ladies from Upper Arlington (285 points) closed out the Division-1 state meet strong taking the 200 and 400 freestyle relay titles en-route to a victory over Cincinnati St.Ursula (270 points) and Centerville (171 points).
Upper Arlington started off the meet with a bang just out-touching St. Ursula Acadamey for the 200 medley relay. Arlington (1:45.09) added a little over a tenth from their time in prelims but still was able to touch before St.Ursula (1:45.24). Strongsville (1:45.59) held off Mason (1:45.77) and Thos Worthington (1:45.89) to take third in the final.
St. Xavier’s medley quartet (1:32.03) beat out top-seeded Hudson (1:32.59) and the senior filled Solon medley (1:33.20) to take gold in the medley relay.
Upper Arlington senior Grace Anne Long kept Arlington rolling and the pressure on St.Ursula taking the 200 Freestyle in 1:48.78. The Louisville commit beat out University of Wisconsin signee Emmy Sehmann (1:49.47) as well as Springboro sophomore Sally Clough (1:51.28). St.Ursula junior Molly Zilch (1:51.29) touched 4th with teammate Katie Kerr (1:51.79) winning the B-final.
St. Xavier stacked the 200 freestyle and the boys did not disappoint with Grant House (1:35.28) and Matt Slabe (1:39.69) placed 1st and 4th respectively. University of Tennesee commit Michael Reilman (1:35.66) could not close out the final 50 against House touching second with Dublin’s Ben Weaver (1:39.24) touching 3rd.
After losing his swim-off for the final spot in the 200 freestyle final St.Xavier’s Grant Carr won the B-Final with fellow teammate Charles Leibson touching 3rd.
Sydney Lofquist(1:59.91), University of Southern California commit, won a tough battle over St.Ursula sophomore Josie Grote(2:00.91) and fellow senior Madison Myers (2:00.94) to win the 200 IM state title. St.Ursula had a great showing in the individual medley with senior Marissa DelGado (2:02.30) touching 4th just ahead of Walsh Jesuit’s Hanna Gresser (2:02.66).
Middletown senior and University of Penn commit Mark Andrew not only won the 200 IM but also broke the state record of former Olympic gold-medalist Mark Gangloff in the process. Andrew (1:46.63) was joined by Ross Palazzo (1:47.54), who was also under Gangloff’s record, and Tommy Cope (1:48.76) on the podium.
Palazzo should be in good hands next fall as the senior will join the excellent IM group in Gainesville under UF head coach Gregg Troy.
Ashley Volpenhein of Mason could not dip under her state record in the individual 50 freestyle (22.84) but was still able to beat out Centerville’s Nora Fullenkamp (23.37) and St. Ursula freshman Hannah Foster(23.54).
The Ghost of Joel Hudepohl kept Kalvin Koethke (20.20) from adding his name to the record books in the 50 freestyle. Seniors Daniel Ackerman (20.72) and Jack German (20.75) rounded out the 50 free podium.
Koethke will surely have another go at the state record next spring with him and Rayon Artis as the only two coming back from the championship final.
Junior Cameron Thatcher (630.90 points) of Olentangy Liberty High School broke the state record formerly held and set by Simmy Beres back in 2008. Katie Polk of Centerville (524.95 points) squeaked out a 3.6 point victory over New Albany’s Estee Pryor (521.35 points) to win the 1-meter
Kings sophomore Megan Sichterman (54.35) was able to win the 100 butterfly over Hannah Whiteley (54.71) and Arlington’s Grace Van Fossen (54.99).
Mason Miller (48.65) from Westerville was able to pull out a close one with fellow seniors Mike Pichette (48.96) of Strongsville and Mark Hancher (49.64) of Sycamore in the 100 butterfly.
Volpenhein added another state championship to her name this time in the 100 freestyle touching at 49.73. Upper Arlington’s Long (50.01) could not reel in Volpenhein the final 50 placing second with Fossen, coming off the 100 butterfly, tying with St. Ursula freshman Hannah Foster (50.93) for third.
St. Xavier’s House (44.79) doubled up as well with a 100 freestyle state title beating out Edgewood’s Zach Apple (45.01) and the 50 freestyle state champion Koethke(45.24).
Lofquist (4:44.40) broke the oldest record left in Division 1 history taking down Diana Munz’s 4:45.54 500 freestyle from 1999. Upper Arlington’s Katherine Trace (4:52.23) touched 2nd with St Ursula’s Kerr and Zilch touching in 4:57.07 and 4:57.79 for 3rd and 4th.
Lakota sophomore Josh McDonald put an end to the doubling up of state championships just out-touching Andrew of Middletown 4:25.35 to 4:25.44.
Upper Arlington held off a charging Mason anchored by Volpenhein winning by 1 one hundredth 1:34.33 to 1:34.34. Hudson beat out St. Ursula for the bronze medal touching 1:35.26 to 1:35.48.
Brecksville (1:23.85) upset St.Xavier (1:24.21) and St.Francis (1:24.48) to win the men’s 200 freestyle relay.
Springboro’s Hannah Whitely (52.95) could not match her new state record of 52.92 set in the preliminary heats but still walked away with the 100 backstroke gold. Kaylee Witkieicz (54.34) and Whitely’s teammate Marianne Kahmann (54.81) rounded out the rest of the podium.
Walsh Jesuit senior Michael Reilman (48.28) beat out fellow seniors Grant Pinchot (49.62) and Christian Sobczak (49.71) in the men’s 100 backstroke.
Walsh Jesuit kept it rolling only difference being it being on the women’s side with Carly Hart (1:02.69) and Hanna Gresser (1:03.17) going 1-2 in the women’s 100 breaststroke.
Ross Palazzo (54.35)got his state title in the 100 breast as well as a new state record breaking Chris Ash’s 54.70 100 breast set back in 2005. Tommy Cope (55.04) of Butler and Chris Quarin of Centerville (56.89) touched second and third.
Upper Arlington sealed the meet away with safe exchanges and fast swimming as the their 400 free relay (3:23.19) won the final event over St.Ursula (3:26.13) and Centerville (3:28.50).
St. Xavier (3:03.03) won the final event of the night for the men with Grant House putting Hudson (3:05.90) and Brecksville (3:05.99) away on the final leg of the 400 freestyle relay.
June 10-12, 2015 International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment , 7