The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Waiting game begins for area Division I swimmers
Even in a season in which not much has resembled any year prior, there was at least one recurring theme that emanated from the Division I SPIRE District on Feb. 20:
News-Herald coverage area swimmers are going to have to wait — in this instance, a little longer than usual.
No area automatic state qualifiers emerged from either session at SPIRE, although decent chances were left for at-larges.
Chardon accounted for a few through the usual strong work from Gracie Duchon and the Hilltoppers’ relays.
Duchon was an area-high third in 100-yard butterfly and sixth in 200 individual medley, and Chardon’s free relays encouraged, with its 400 free relay taking fifth and 200 free relay taking sixth.
At-large qualifiers won’t be known until Feb. 21 at the earliest, because the Central/East/Southeast District is a Sunday meet this year in D-I.
“I thought overall, it was a good meet,” Hilltoppers coach Matt Parrish said. “Coming from last week to this week is always a big leap of faith. We did fairly well. I think our seniors really had something to prove with the past two years (graduating program staples Katherine Jerry and Sarah Bennett), and I think they did an amazing job. They scored as many points as we’ve ever had — eighth place, we’re usually around seventh or eighth.
“We were thrilled. We had three relays that scored points. We haven’t done that in a couple years.
Gracie’s swims were great. She missed a little bit of time over Thanksgiving, as many teams have. So I was pretty happy with the way she got down. Next week, if she makes it, she’ll be even better.”
Duchon’s 100 fly was a gutsy effort out of Lane 0, with a time of 57.95. A 31.36 closer marked a .35 drop from her state prelim swim last winter.
The Hilltoppers’ junior standout also had solid work in 200 IM with a 2:09.44. Of note was a 32.12 backstroke split, good for a 1.20 drop from district a year ago.
“Last year at the state
meet, she was the fastest out in butterfly, and then that middle 100 was something we were going to work on,” Parrish said. “Her backstroke got a lot better, and her breaststroke should come down in the next year or so.”
Chardon’s 400 free relay was fifth with a 3:38.54, getting a 53.41 popper from Duchon and identical 55.05s from seniors Morgan Debevec and Campbell Tierney and a 55.03 from Stella Parrish.
“The free relays did great,” Parrish said. “Our medley relay did fairly well. We’ve got some freshmen that stepped up and dropped some time. Again, I think it’s more of a learning experience just to drop some time at this meet. They always want more. Kids always want more. I was happy with them.”
Mayfield’s Gianna Leffler came out of SPIRE, despite not netting an automatic berth for the second straight year in 100 back, not asking for much more after a fine swim in a loaded field.
Leffler took fourth in 100 back with a 56.18, featuring a 27.12 to the turn that was .32 faster than her district runner-up swim in 2020 and .20 overall.
There was no shame in a lower placement, considering this year’s ‘A’ final in the event featured three of Ohio’s most respected D-I performers regardless of event in Hudson’s Mackenzie Dewitt, BrecksvilleBroadview Heights’ Annie Krusinski and Akron Firestone’s Molly Rogers.
“Yeah, it was a pretty good swim,” Leffler said. “It was exciting just to be in that type of caliber. It was really fun. Hopefully, I get to go next week. I’m confident in my swim that I’ll be able to swim. And I’m super excited, because I know I can go faster.”
It’s just a matter of that wait.
“It’s pretty stressful,” Leffler said. “For me, having confidence in knowing that I went my best. I couldn’t have done any better. Just waiting it out is pretty stressful, but it’s whatever. You can’t change anything, as long as you swim your best.”
In the boys session, the highest area finishers were Madison’s Mark Hribar, who was seventh in 50 and 100 free, and Mentor’s Caleb Gemmen, who was eighth in 100 breast.