The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Relays steal show at D-I sectional
She still has a couple more district and state meets left to go in her career, but Sarah Bennett is a sage at this point.
When the Chardon junior standout sees a breakthrough swim, chances are she’s got a point.
Feb. 9 during the Division I SPIRE Sectional, she had the perspective and a pivotal part in a special afternoon for the Hilltoppers in relays.
Chardon’s 200-yard freestyle and 400 free relays were in outstanding form as the road to Canton commenced. The 200 free relay quartet with Bennett opening and Gracie Duchon, Morgan Debevec and Katherine Jerry feeding off that tone, won a sectional title with a time of 1 minute, 38.94 seconds.
That marked a .97 drop from when Chardon competed in D-I state preliminaries in 2018 and, much like its breakthrough swim last winter at the D-I Cleveland State District when the Hilltoppers were fifth with a 1:39.25, featured three splits in the 24s.
The 400 free relay, with Bennett popping, Duchon and Jerry on the second leg and anchor again, respectively, and Campbell Tierney coming in as the third leg, went 3:35.83, a .89 cut from their winning swim last month at the Western Reserve Conference meet in an epic battle with Mayfield that served both quartets well.
“It’s such a turnover from the beginning of the season,” Bennett said. “And having these young girls go that time, it’s incredible. Training with them, I definitely know they’re capable of more. But just seeing them get their best times is amazing.
“We weren’t expecting
that (WRC 400 free relay swim) at all. After this week, we were training really hard. So we all knew, it’s either you go insane and beat Mayfield and do your best time or you’re a little tired from this week and you get them next week. I think it was a great way to end the meet and special for us as a team.”
Bennett also delivered an individual title, as she moved over to 50 free and recorded a 24.33, good for a .21 drop from when she was second at the WRC meet in the event.
“It’s been kind of an up and down thing since freshman year,” Bennett said. “I’m so excited to get into 50 free. I think it’s a really fun time to experiment and throw some other events in there. I was really proud of it, and I hope I can do sub24 next week.”
The Mayfield boys had a pair of breakthroughs of their own in free relays. The Wildcats’ 200 free relay of Clay Cunningham, Nick Cunningham, Jack Milroy and Kevin Morgan got out early, with the Cunningham twins each recording 22.22 splits, and rode it to Swimmers depart the blocks to begin girls 200 free relay Feb. 9 during the Division I SPIRE Sectional. Chardon won the event with a 1:38.94.
a 1:30.45.
The 400 free relay, with the same quartet, went 3:20.56, featuring a 48.90 from Nick Cunningham and a 50.67 anchor from Morgan coming off his win in 100 breaststroke.
“We really haven’t been a strong freestyle sprinting team, to be honest with you,” Morgan said. “Mayfield has pretty much been known for distance freestyle. The fact that we’re able to make some good drops this year with the 200 free relay and 400 free relay
is surprising, but very good.
“The 200 free relay, one Sunday morning I was talking with (Mayfield coach Rick Balcam), and I was like, ‘Hey, do you think we could possibly get to that time?’ as I looked up to the board and our pool record was a 1:28. ‘Do you think we could possibly get somewhere around that?’ And we started looking into it more, and then we set up the relay and kind of went for it.”
Madison’s Zoey Fedele went for it beautifully in her signature event, 100
butterfly, and recorded a strong base going into CSU with a 57.66. Of particular note was a 30.46 closing 50, which marks a .57 cut from when she was seventh at CSU last winter.
“I was really happy with it,” Fedele said. “I’m hoping to go fast next weekend, and that’s definitely all I can hope for right now. But I felt strong and smooth.
“Last year before sectional, I accidentally tapered. This year, I’ve just been working really hard all the way up until sectional.
It’s been really nice working with all the seniors. They push me to do my best.”
Mayfield’s Karen Argie encouraged as well as she captured 200 free with a 1:56.03. The senior, who was second at SPIRE in 2018 with a 1:58.31, hit a solid 29.06 second split, which is .41 faster than sectional a year ago and .26 faster than district.
Argie also swam the free anchor on the Wildcats’ 200 medley relay, which turned heads with an outstanding 1:48.24. That’s not too far off where Mayfield was in district (1:48.02) and state (1:48.17) last winter.
“It felt really hard at the end,” Argie said. “I definitely know I left it all in the pool. I had nothing left at the end. I was trying to go for a school record, a 1:55.1. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get it. But I still cut time. I had a decent time cut, and next week at district, I’ll be shaved, tapered and ready to go.”
Coming soon
For more from this meet, check back in the coming days on News-Herald.com and in our print edition.