GLC teams do well at District swim meet

Bay and Rocky River swimmers shine at the Division II Northeast District meet at Cleveland State. But some need to wait to find out if they qualified for the state meet in Canton.

The Great Lakes Conference should be well represented next weekend in Canton at the Division II State meet.

Notice the word “should” because a lot of swimmers will be waiting to see if they received an at-large bid to Canton. A lot, but not all. Rocky River junior Elijah Linville didn’t feel like waiting and placed second in the 100 breaststroke (59.85) to earn an automatic qualification to Canton at the Northeast District Division II meet on Feb. 17 at Cleveland State’s Busbey Natatorium.

“It’s been quite a journey,” Linville said. “I’ve been working toward this all three years. It’s just an amazing feeling. I don’t know if it’s completely sunk in yet. I’m just honestly at a loss for words right now.”

The top two swimmers and relays at the district meets automatically advance to Canton, with 16 at-large bids going to the next fastest times at the four D-II district meets across the state.

Linville, who also placed ninth in the 200 IM (2:03.11), was in a tight race with University School’s Caleb Peters for the 100 breaststroke district title, but Peters just barely outtouched Linville by 0.21 seconds.

“I was really looking for that first-place finish, but he just out-touched me,” Linville said. “I was feeling good. I wasn’t really that tired in the first 50. We were neck-and-neck in the final 50 and just pushed as much as I could.”

Still, he said that it is a great feeling being on the inside, knowing he can prepare for Canton, rather than being close on the outside.

Last year, Linville placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.29 and was the last man out for an at-large bid.

“I was at Canton last year as part of the medley relay,” Linville said. “I was 25th in the breaststroke last year, on the outside looking in. Being the last one out was hard. I didn’t like it, but it helped push me.”

Linville, along with Bay diver Mara Kinsey who placed sixth (349.85) at the diving competition on Feb. 15 to advance, may be headed to Canton, but plenty of other area swimmers will have to play the waiting game — including Linville’s Rocky River teammate Jake Vehar.

Vehar, a state qualifier last year in the 50 free and 100 free, will be a long shot in the 50 freestyle with a ninth-place finish (22.22), but has a strong chance in the 100 freestyle via his fourth-place finish (48.05).

“I’d love to make it back to Canton,” Vehar said. “But I’m just not going to focus on it. If I make it, I make it. I think I have a good shot to make it in the 100 freestyle and possibly a couple relays. We’re just going to have to see.”

Another state qualifier who has to play the waiting game is Bay’s Colin MacMillan. The junior, who made podium in the 100 butterfly with a thirdplace finish in Canton last year, finished fourth in 50 free (21.52) and fifth in the 100 butterfly (51.92).

While he was not the happiest with his times, he said he believes that they are strong enough to qualify in both.

“You just have to be ready for anything,” MacMillan said. “Guys come out of nowhere at this level. You need to focus on what you’re going to race. I mean, I’m not the happiest with the times. There’s things I could have done better. But with that being said, I’m confident those times will get me back to Canton, and it’s nice knowing that there are things I can improve heading into the state meet to make myself better.”

Teammate Maja Miedza will also be furiously refreshing ohsaa.org over the weekend to see if she qualified for her first state meet.

The freshman posted a third-place finish in the 50 freestyle (24.02) and fifth-place finish in the 100 freestyle (52.80). Considering that Miedza’s 50 freestyle time is under the average second-place finish for the last five years (24.03) and her 100 freestyle time is slightly above the second-place average (52.02), the freshman stands a good chance at swimming two individual events in Canton. “I like my times,” Miedza said. “I think my 50 free time will make it and I think I have a good shot in the 100 freestyle, too. I guess I’m just going to have to be looking online for a while to see what happens.”

For her first crack at a district meet, Miedza said she felt nervous, but feels she did her best.

“It’s crazy how much faster these meets have gotten,” Miedza said. “I just dropped a decent amount of time and still got third and fifth. I did not think this meet was going to be this fast.”

The final area swimmer who stands the best chance of advancing is Elyria Catholic senior Jacqueline Lester.

Lester, who earned one of the final at-large bids in the 100 freestyle last year, posted a fifth-place finish in the 100 backstroke (59.79) and finished eighth in the 100 freestyle (54.15).

Lester’s 100 backstroke time broke her own school record, something that gives her a bit more hope that Canton will be the final destination.

“I’m just going to have to wait,” Lester said of her chances to go to Canton. “It was great getting the personal and school record. I think it was a great race. I gave it my best. It hurt bad, but I pushed through it.”

Others boys who are on the bubble for a trip to Canton include: Rocky River’s 200 medley relay (fifth, 1:43.15), 200 freestyle relay (fifth, 1:30.04) and 400 freestyle relay (fifth, 3:18.02), Rocky River senior Andrew Gluntz (seventh, 500 freestyle, 4:59.37), Elyria Catholic senior Brian O’Dell (sixth, 100 breaststroke, 1:02.20).

On the girls side, other area swimmers on the bubble include: Bay’s 200 medley relay (fifth, 1:52.49) and 400 freestyle relay (fifth, 3:42.99), Bay senior Rose Mlakar (eighth, 100 breaststroke, 1:08.61) and Elyria Catholic’s 400 freestyle relay (seventh, 3:48.51).

Linville

Miedza