The Ohio State swimming championships took place last weekend and Ohio proved to be one of the toughest states swimming some extremely fast times. The meet was split into division 1 and division 2, the latter being the slower of the two meets. The Hawken women and the Dayton Oakwood men won the division 2 meet whereas the Ursuline women and the St. Xavier men won the division 1 meet.
The division 2 meet started with a state record in the women’s 200 medley relay. Granville stole the show with a time of 1:44.22 to Oakwood’s 1:46.12 The Oakwood men followed the path of the women finishing second to Perkins high school 1:34.80 to 1:35.04. The freestyle relays on the other hand were dominated by the Hawken women, winning both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. In the 200 freestyle relay the Hawken girls broke a division 2 state record with a time of 1:34.99.
Hawken senior Carrie Bencic took the win in the women’s 200 free with a division 2 state record time of 1:48.22. Country Day sophomore Allie Wooden finished just behind her in 1:48.75. Bencic took the win in the 500 freestyle as well touching the wall in 4:50.12. Oakwood sophomore Sydney Lofquist finished second in 4:51.97.
Just before her 500 free silver, Lofquist swam to a victory in the 200 IM, setting a division 2 state record in the process. Her time of 2:01.03 was over two seconds faster than second place finisher Kendrew Crew from Shawnee.
Wilmington senior Josh Quallen swam an outrageously fast 100 fly touching the wall in 47.95 to set a division 2 state record. Second place finisher Michael Kessler was over two seconds behind, finishing in 50.01. Quallen will be training at the University of Louisville next year. Not satisfied with just one record Quallen swam to another in the 100 back. Quallen took the race in a time of 48.92 to Austin Quinn’s 49.41.
The division 1 meet proved to have just as much excitement if not more than division 2. The Ursuline girls dominated the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay. The girls won the 200 medley relay in 1:43.27 and the 400 free in 3:23.19. They smashed the other schools in both of those events. In the 200 free relay however they came second to Upper Arlington who finished with a division 1 state record of 1:34.19 to Ursuline’s 1:35.61. On the men’s side St. Ignatus won the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays like the Ursuline girls. In the 400 freestyle relay the boys finished with a time of 3:04.86 beating out Hoover high school who finished with a time of 3:05.92. The Hoover boys also came second in the 200 freestyle relay which was won by St. Xavier in 1:23.74.
Mason junior Zoe Thatcher took the 200 and freestyle’s in division 1. In the 200 free Thatcher finished with a time of 1:47.43, over a second faster than Gracie Long’s time of 1:48.63. Thatcher came up on top yet again winning the 500 in a fast 4:47.81, four seconds ahead of second place competitor Kaitlyn Ferrara.
Firestone senior Katie Miller also came home with two big wins, taking the 200 IM and the 100 back. In the 200 IM she dominated the event setting a state record of 1:57.98 and won by a huge five second margin. In the 100 back however she won by a much smaller amount, beating Emily Slabe 54.04 to 54.27.
Chase Kinney swept the sprint freestyles setting a state record of 22.53 in the 50.
On the men’s side the most notable performance was Firestone senior Mark Belanger’s 45.17 Division I state record in the 100 freestyle. He took down a tough field and placed a lot of distance between himself and second place competitor Mason Miller who finished in 45.77.
“Mark Belanger’s 45.17 Division I state record in the 100 freestyle.”
State record is a 43.43 (Joe Hudepohl, 1992)