The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chardon, Mayfield buoyed by fast final
Chardon and Mayfield should be buoyed by a hot final in girls 400 freestyle relay at the WRC meet, Chris Lillstrung writes. That, along with area leaders and the weekly area roundup.
There is a reasonable argument to be made during the regular season that time drastically outweighs place.
It’s not that gold medals or other plaudits from invitationals aren’t worthwhile. It’s more that the time drops those strong swims yield are worth their weight in gold.
A case in point came Jan. 5 during the Western Reserve Conference meet at SPIRE, when the girls 400yard freestyle relay final featured a duel between Chardon and Mayfield that should serve both quartets well as February nears.
The Hilltoppers won the event and the Wildcats were second, but it was the times that were the more key development.
Chardon’s Gracie Duchon, Sarah Bennett, Campbell Tierney and Katherine Jerry recorded a meetrecord time of 3 minutes, 36.72 seconds. Mayfield’s Karen Argie, Emily Steffey, Gianna Leffler and Gianna Ferrante went 3:37.62.
It means both relays, albeit with a much different quartet for Chardon, are already significantly faster than they were at the Division I SPIRE Sectional a year ago and well-positioned in the event in early January among D-I state contenders for 2019.
“I think, especially us being in the same conference and area, I think it’s really good that we have each other to compete from and compete with,” Ferrante said. “We’re just going to keep pushing each other.
“And both of those relays are going to go very, very far for both teams.”
Especially with an early January base like this with which to build.
This marks the third time already the Hilltoppers have been under 3:41 in the event, including a 3:40.54 at the SPIRE Winter Invitational, a 3:38.04 at the Viking Invitational and this 3:36.72 to win at WRC.
Of the 12 splits from those three relay swims, 10 were under 56. Jerry turned in a sterling 52.93 to stave off Ferrante’s 52.37 on the anchor at WRC. Duchon went 54.54 on the opening leg, which is .62 faster than the SPIRE Winter Invitational.
“It’s a really good start,” Duchon said.”We’re getting there. We still have a lot of time to drop.”
Mayfield is eyeing a state return after a defining performance last year during the D-I CSU District, when the Wildcats took fifth with a 3:34.76 to earn an at-large berth with Argie and Ferrante as juniors and Steffey as a sophomore to go with senior Sara Peters.
Out of what can be brutal D-I preliminaries at state, Mayfield earned a Day 2 swim, taking 12th in the 400 free relay ‘B’ final with a 3:34.23.
For perspective on how nicely positioned both quartets are, those WRC times earned rare qualification from this corner of the state for the Ohio top 20 on swimmeet.com, with the Hilltoppers ninth and Wildcats 10th in the latest rankings.
Leffler, a sophomore, was inserted as the fourth leg at WRC for the relay by Mayfield coach Rick Balcam. Coming off a dynamic swim in 100 back to take first, Leffler recorded a 55.08 split on 400 free relay.
Last year at state, the last ‘A’ final spot out of prelims was netted with a 3:31.48 by BrecksvilleBroadview Heights, which came out of district with a 3:33.24, not terribly far off where Mayfield was at CSU.
So with tapering and peaking at the most opportune moment, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to get near that level. Especially with such strong times to ring in the new year.
“Oh, I am so excited for 400 free relay,” Argie said. “Last year, I really fought for a spot on that relay, and so I’m very excited to still be on it. We’re going really fast. We’ve got some big goals. My teammates, we want to break our own school record and pool record, and also, the goal is state ‘A’ finals. Last year, we were state finals. I think we were 12th. But I would love to get out there and kill it.
“(Balcam) says we have a shot at All-American, and that would just be amazing. So I’m very excited. We want to keep everyone healthy, strong, motivated. And I think we can kill it at sectional and district.” Swimming leaders
“So I’m very excited. We want to keep everyone healthy, strong, motivated. And I think we can kill it at sectional and district.”