The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
University swimmer wins prestigious race
University’s Ethan Banks won 500 freestyle at the prestigious Ned Reeb Invitational on Dec. 16. “... He led that thing from wire-to-wire, which was awesome,” Preppers coach Brian Perry said.
On its way back north from the Ned Reeb Invitational on Dec. 16 at Ohio State, University stopped at a Taco Bell.
The menu was probably tantalizing to a group of swimmers, parents and coaches after one of Ohio’s most daunting one-day preliminary/final meets.
But the feast may have already occurred at OSU — especially as far as Ethan Banks was concerned at the head of the table.
The US junior logged the most impressive 500-yard freestyle swims of his burgeoning career, culminating with a signature wireto-wire win in 500 free against a great field of primarily Central and Southwest Ohio powers.
In an ‘A’ final featuring five swimmers from mighty Cincinnati St. Xavier, Banks hit the wall with a commanding time of 4 minutes, 39.18 seconds, a little more than two seconds head of St. X’s Sam Fallon (4:41.26).
He turned in a 4:38.94 in morning prelims — a statement of intent as it is — and followed it up beautifully in the night finals.
“Yeah, it was a great swim,” Preppers coach Brian Perry said. “Actually, Ethan right now is coming off some injuries. He has barely been able to practice the last two or three weeks, so we didn’t even know what to expect. He hasn’t even done much of a practice outside of our diving well. So we kind of had pretty low expectations for him, and he had an amazing
day. He is such a competitor that it didn’t really matter that he hadn’t trained in like two weeks.
“He just performed incredibly well, especially when he’s in the final with five St. X swimmers. Whenever you see five white caps in the finals, that’s intimidating. But he doesn’t get intimidated. He led that thing from wire-to-wire, which was awesome.”
The 2017 first-team News-Herald all-star, a week after competing in 100 and 200 free prelims at Viking but being unable to compete in the finals, put on a clinic at OSU. Banks kept his second through
fourth splits in the 27s before a masterful low-to-mid 28s run midway and a 28.80 and 28.08 to close.
In comparison to the 4:39.18, when he was fifth as a sophomore in 500 free in Division II at state a year ago, he recorded a 4:39.50. Banks dropped .58, .42 and .40 on laps 5-7 at Ned Reeb as opposed to that state swim and was in the high-27s on his third and fourth splits, which he wasn’t in Canton.
Legacy Christian’s Eric Knowles, last year’s D-II state champion, and 2017 N-H boys swimmer of the year Matthew Rakovec of Hawken, the state runner-up,
graduated. So the ‘A’ final at state this winter might delve closer to the low-4:30s for a realistic shot at a top four.
US has had eight top fours at state in 500 free all-time, including two of the best distance freestylers in area history in Ian Stewart-Bates and Mike Gaudiani.
Banks wouldn’t mind adding his name to that group, and if he’s already under 4:40 with plenty of time to go, the menu may very well call for a state top four come February.
“Oh, it’s great,” Perry said. “I think he’s excited. Because he was hurt, he didn’t get to go to (junior nationals). He was a little disappointed not getting to go to juniors. So to post that time right now gets him really excited for what can happen in the postseason.”
For more from Perry, listen to the full audio interview at News-Herald.com.
Around the deck
A look at a few of the top performances by area swimmers from meets held this past week:
• The SPIRE Winter Invitational lended plenty of encouragement from the area ranks before Christmas.
On the boys side, Hawken was in dominant form with 11 top-three finishes.
Freshman Alex Podrez won 200 IM (1:57.93) and 500 free (4:48.15), and Calvin Tecson (50 free, 21.60), Zeb Hart (100 back, 51.24) and the Hawks’ 200 medley and 400 free relays also notched event wins.
In a sign Podrez will be one to watch at the high school level, a sub-1:58 would have gotten him into a ‘B’ final in D-II 200 IM at state last year.
Hart also took second in 100 fly with a 49.63, hit a 23.70 fly split on medley relay and a 46.01 on 400 free relay. Tecson (third, 100 free), Hunter Forsythe (third, 100 breast), Nathan Herman (third, 200 IM) and 200 free relay (second) had the other top threes for Hawken.
Other boys ‘A’ final performances of note from area schools other than Hawken at SPIRE were turned in by Riverside’s Kyle Silver (fourth, 100 fly) and Edgar Kokos (10th, 100 free), Beachwood’s Spencer Bystrom (eighth, 50 free and ninth, 100 back) and Mayfield’s Steven Grieshammer (fourth, 500 free and eighth, 200 IM).
For the girls, Hawken was the area standard bearer as usual, recording 11 top threes. Hawks freshman Mairin O’Brien swept sprint free in a pair of outstanding mid-December times, 23.66 for 50 and 51.65 for 100. Claire Pophal (500 free), Portia Brown (200 IM) and Hawken’s 200 medley and 400 free relays also secured event crowns.
Bainon Hart (second, 50 and 100 free), Sylvia Stewart-Bates (second, 500 free), Brown (second, 100 back) and 200 free relay (second) also logged top-three finishes for the Hawks.
Other area girls ‘A’ finalists at SPIRE were Chardon’s Katherine Jerry (seventh, 50 free and eighth, 100 free), Sarah Bennett (sixth, 100 back and seventh, 100 fly), Katarina Valentic (10th, 100 breast), Jayne Sopenski (ninth, 100 fly), 200 free relay (fourth), 400 free relay (10th) and 200 medley relay (fourth), Mayfield’s Gianna Ferrante (fourth, 100 free and 200 IM), 200 free relay (eighth) and 200 medley relay (sixth) and Mentor’s 400 free relay (seventh).
• At the Ned Reeb Invitational, University’s Zach Halawa (100 free), Banks (ninth, 200 free), 200 medley relay (seventh), 200 free relay (fifth) and 400 free relay (third) and Gilmour’s Cate O’Haimhirgin (fifth, 100 breast) cracked the top 10 in addition to Banks’ 500 free title.