Emily Brown Breaks Ohio HS Records in 100 Fly (52.69), 200 IM (1:57.27) at D-I State Champs

OSAA Division I State Championships

• Feb. 20-24, 2024
• Canton, Ohio
  • C.T. Branin Natatorium
• SCY (25 yards)
• Championship central
• Girls PDF results
• Boys PDF results

Girls Team Scores

1. Upper Arlington – 313
2. Mason – 207
3. Jerome – 162
4. Coffman – 145
5. Cincinnati Ursuline Academy – 141

After sweeping OHSAA Division I state titles in the 200-yard freestyle and 500 free during her first three years of high school, Coffman senior Emily Brown decided to switch up her event lineup this time around.

The risky decision paid off as Brown broke Ohio state records in the 100 butterfly (52.69) and 200 IM (1:57.27), taking down the previous standards set back in 2021 by current Duke star Martina Peroni.

Brown shaved more than half a second off her lifetime best in the 100 fly while coming up just short of her personal-best time in the 200 IM (1:56.49) from December, finishing her high school career with eight individual titles across four different events. A Tennessee commit, her winning times this weekend would have narrowly missed the A-final in both the 100 fly and 200 IM at last week’s SEC Championships.

Upper Arlington junior Hayden Hollingsworth put up a stellar overall performance to power her team past runner-up Mason for its first state title since 2017 and 13th in program history. The Georgia commit repeated as 50 free champion with a personal-best 22.69, dropping .15 seconds off her previous-best 22.84 from last year’s victory.

Hollingsworth earned a runner-up finish in the 100 fly (personal-best 54.07) to go along with her contributions on the triumphant 200 medley (1:42.82) and 200 free (1:32.76). She split 23.76 swimming butterfly on the medley relay along with sophomore Abby Oliphant (27.02 back), senior McCall Freiburger (28.65 breast), and freshman Maren Berg (23.39 free). Hollingsworth also anchored the 200 free relay in 22.36, clinching the win along with Oliphant (23.43 leadoff), sophomore Ashton Mumaw (23.72 split), and freshman Riley Hollingsworth (23.25 split).

The only swimmer besides Brown to capture multiple individual crowns was Jerome junior Milly Leonard, who swept the 200 free (1:49.87) and 500 free (4:52.77). She dropped almost two seconds off her previous-best 500 free time of 4:54.30 from December while touching within a second of her lifetime best in the 100 free (1:49.16) from earlier this month.

Kings Mills couldn’t crack the top five in the team standings, but the program did boast two individual champions between sophomore Maya Schweikert in the 100 back (54.79) and senior Faith Rudowski in the 100 free (personal-best 50.35). In the 100 breast, Hilliard Darby sophomore Alexis Peltcs eked past Cincinnati Walnut Hills sophomore Quinn Schureck (1:02.92) with a winning time of 1:02.73 to round out the individual champions on the girls’ side. Peltcs also earned a runner-up finish in the 200 IM with a personal-best 2:04.18, trimming more than half a second off her previous best from December (2:04.72).

Boys Recap

Team Scores

1. St. Xavier – 302
2. Upper Arlington – 229
3. St. Charles Prep – 205
4. St. Ignatius – 166
5. Massillon Jackson – 148.5

Two-time defending 500 free champion Thackston McMullan pieced together a freestyle masterclass with wins in the 100 free (43.67) and 200 free (1:36.13) to go along with a 20.20 leadoff on St. Xavier’s winning 200 free relay (1:21.30) — faster than the winning time in the individual event.

The senior Cal commit’s performance lifted his St. Xavier squad to a second consecutive state crown with 302 points ahead of Upper Arlington’s 229. It was the 44th title in total for the St. Xavier boy’s swimming team, the most in any sport in Ohio state history.

McMullan notched two lifetime bests, shaving a few tenths off his previous-best 50 free time of 20.54 from last February and almost half a second off his best 100 free time from earlier this month (44.10). He also anchored St. Xavier’s victorious 400 free relay (3:01.01) with a 43.82 split.

McMullan’s 200 free relay leadoff wasn’t actually the fastest in the field as St. Charles Prep sophomore Austin Carpenter clocked a blistering 19.94. He dropped exactly one-tenth of a second off his lifetime best from Winter Juniors in December to help St. Charles Prep place 2nd in the 200 free relay (1:21.55) just a quarter of a second behind St. Xavier. Carpenter also finished less than a tenth of a second shy of McMullan in the 200 free with a runner-up finish in 1:36.21. However, he did top the podium in the 100 breast (54.31 after 54.29 in prelims), holding off a spirited challenge by St. Xavier junior Jaeger Ellerman (54.38). Carpenter wasn’t far off his personal-best 53.70 from Winter Juniors in December.

Sidney senior Jarrett Payne impressed with a pair of individual victories in the 100 back (47.68) and 200 IM (1:48.77). The Alabama commit knocked a couple tenths off his best 100 back time from December while coming up just short of his personal-best 200 IM (1:48.46) from December.

St. Xavier boasted another individual commit in senior Max Ward as the Xavier commit claimed the 100 fly crown in 48.33, just a couple tenths off his personal-best 48.14 from last year’s prelims. Other individual champions included St. Charles Prep sophomore Jake Lloyd triumphing in the 50 free with a personal-best 20.28, taking about a quarter of a second off his previous-best 20.56 from last month, and Beavercreek senior Caleb Manning winning the 500 free with a time of 4:30.12. Manning, a UNLV commit, was within a couple seconds of his personal-best 4:28.72 from last week.