Boys Scores 1. Cincinnati Seven hills 209; 2. Dover 152; 3. Dayton Oakwood 139
Womens Scores 1. Hawken 279; T2. Columbus School for Girls 173; T2. Cincinnati Mariemont 173
The girls of Hawken High School extended their streak of state titles to 17 over the weekend while the Cincinnati Seven Hills boys celebrated their first ever state championship.
The 200 Medley relay team of Hawken (1:44.58) missed the state record starting off the session for the reigning champions. Mariemont (1:47.31) and Hathaway Brown (1:47.52) meanwhile collected silver and bronze medals for their respective high schools.
The boys 200 medley relay featured a back and forth battle between Seven Hills and Dover ultimately with Seven Hills (1:33.65) just out-touching Dover (1:33.70). University (1:36.09) and Oakwood (1:36.80) while placing third and fourth in the final return 3 legs of each of their relays next year leaving a bright future at next years championships.
Cincinnati Country Day School senior Alex Wooden (1:46.96) started off her final high school states shattering the previous state record of 1:48.22 set by Carrie Bencic in the 200 free. The Hawken high school dynamic duo of Lauren Heller (1:48.57) and Claire Doerr (1:49.48) placing second and third will have their own shot at Wooden’s record at next years championships.
Oakwood senior Jackson Higgins already rewriting the record books in the prelims of the 200 free decided to lower the standard again that night posting a 1:37.57. The Purdue commit beat out Perkins senior Sean Mulvin (1:39.87), might I add whom we cannot find year round times on currently, and freshman Cody Bybee (1:40.10)
Crile Hart (2:00.74) of Hawken swimming angry from the medley relay missing the state record set her own state record in the individual medley. The sophmore beat out Virginia Tech commit Abby Stone (2:01.74) and Sandusky High School senior Kerrigan Vargo (2:05.63).
The onslaught on state records sadly came to an end but they might be in Xenia sophomore Eric Knowles future. Knowles (1:51.64) touched ahead of Villege Academy senior James McGraw (1:53.47) and Chargrin junior Jason Quinn (1:53.94) to take the 200 IM title.
Miranda Donley (22.97) of CSG broke the 23 second barrier to beat out Ragen Engel (23.26) and Debin Landstra (23.70) to be crowned the splash and dash queen of division 2.
The battle of the senior sprinters of Division 2 went to Wisconsin commit Trevor Lake(20.60) topping Indian Hill’s Sam Vester (21.09) and Galion’s Sam DeNero (21.20).
FGCU commit Kiley Eble out touched Akron signee Ragen Engel 55.57-55.63 in the 100 fly. Engel surprised the field coming from the outside lane to beat Fenwick freshman Lauren Olson (56.26) for the silver medal.
Tufts University commit Kingsley Bowen left his mark on the state meet; winning the 100 butterfly (49.84) over Seven Hills Matthew Marquardt (50.70) and Bellbrook freshman Cody Bybee(50.73).
Wooden was unable to go two for two on state records but still added another gold to her name winning the 100 free touching at 49.43. Columbus senior Abby Wilson (50.75) and fellow senior Geena Freriks (50.90) were able to touch second and third ending their high school careers on a high note.
Lake (44.71) bounced back from a self described “disapointing 50” taking the 100 freestyle 200 freestyle runner-up Sean Mulvin (45.39) and Sam Vester (45.71). 8th place finisher Carson Burt (47.20) surprisingly will be the lone man returning next season from the championship final.
The ladies of Hawken High School put the Division 2 meet away with an impressive sweep of the 500 freestyle. Claire Doerr (4:50.12) bounced back from her third place finish in the 200 free winning the 500 with Summer Svitavsky (4:56.89) and Maureen Rakovec (4:57.71) joining Doerr on the podium.
Higgins doubled up on gold medals winning the 500 free (4:27.05) over Chagrin junior Jason Quinn (4:30.76) and Xenia Christian sophomore Eric Knowles (4:33.04).
A close relay race between CSG (1:35.45), Hawken (1:36.48), and Columbus Academy (1:36.69) ended with CSG breaking away with 50 free champion Donley anchoring the relay to state championship gold.
After an impressive lead off from Lake, Bay High School (1:26.33) was unable to hold off Dover (1:25.65) in the 200 freestyle relay with Rocky River (1:26.47) picking up the bronze medal.
200 IM runner-up Abby Stone (55.29) won the 100 backstroke over 100 fly champion Eble(55.74) and Claire Golba (56.31).
Bowen (49.50) would get the best of Marquardt (50.01) again, only this time in the 100 backstroke with Catholic Central senior Matt Pettit (50.96) touching third.
Hawken’s Hart collected her second gold of the evening winning the 100 breaststroke (1:03.78), Michelle Prayson (1:04.08) out-touched Leah Dupre (1:04.29) to take the second spot on the podium.
The 100 breast final looked to be a showdown between Frannie Brogan and Peare Kieser after the two tied for the top seed the previous day. Brogan (55.68) would drop roughly another half second while Kieser (56.80) would add from the morning and hold off Zach Hostoffer (57.03) to touch second.
The 400 freestyle relays did not disappoint with The Columbus School for Girls (3:30.01) again anchored by Donley took gold over Columbus Academy (3:30.30) and Mariemont (3:30.47) in possibly the race of the mee
Seven Hills’s Pearce Kieser (3:08.36) was able to edge out the Medeira relay (3:08.41) capping off the championship night for the eventual state champions.