How to go
What: 28th Annual Southwest Ohio High School Swimming and Diving Classic
When: Today
Where: Swimming preliminaries — Beavercreek and Countryside YMCAs, Washington Twp. Recreation Center, Miami University and Mason, Milford and Trotwood-Madison high schools. Finals — St. Xavier High School. Diving finals — University of Cincinnati.
Times: Swimming preliminaries — 8 a.m., finals — 6:30 p.m.; Diving finals — 9 a.m.
WASHINGTON TWP. — Quantity? No. Quality? Absolutely.
The Yellow Springs High School swim team doesn’t even number in double digits as the Bulldogs have just six swimmers on the roster — five girls and one boy. But what they lack in size, they make up for in speed.
Yellow Springs swimmers clinched two first-place finishes in the preliminaries of the Southwest Ohio High School Swimming and Diving Classic at the Washington Township Recreation Center on Saturday.
Erika Chick won the 200-yard freestyle by more than three seconds, 1:56.47 to 1:59.90, over Miamisburg’s Anna Weisman. And teammate Elizabeth Malone edged out Centerville’s Rachel Mays in the 100-yard butterfly. Chick and Malone had the second and third best times, respectively, among the swimmers from all seven Classic qualifying sites from Dayton to Cincinnati.
“There aren’t a lot of Yellow Springs swimmers here but there are a lot of Raiders,” Chick said of her club team.
For Bulldogs’ first-year swim coach Andrew Sellers, the sparse Yellow Springs team is in stark contrast to his alma mater — Centerville. The Elks had 104 swimmers at the Classic on Saturday, the most athletes of any school at the Washington Twp. site. Fairmont had 90 swimmers on deck.
“It’s nothing like the kind of team I was used to swimming on but, as a coach, it’s kind of nice,” Sellers said. “It’s easier for me to identify with each of the kids and give them the individual attention they need.”
HOME SWEET HOME: Centerville opened with wins in both the girls and boys 400-yard medley relays and closed out the qualifying event at their home pool with identical first-place finishes in both 200-yard freestyle relays.
Centerville senior Alex Osterhage won the boys 200-yard freestyle event in 1:46.48, the fourth best time among all qualifiers, while junior Brian Clark won the 100-yard butterfly.
The Elks clinched the top two spots in both the 50-yard freestyle, with seniors Austin Gregory (22.73) and Steven Rodgers (23.78). Centerville dominated the 100-yard backstroke event with juniors Jay Hickey (54.59) narrowly edging out Sam Mitchell (54.61) for the top finish and teammates Corey Beinhart and Austin Senseman finishing third and fourth, respectively.
TOP TIMES: Several Springboro swimmers had top qualifying times heading into the finals at St. Xavier on Saturday night.
Springboro senior Dani Barbiea had the time to beat in both the 50-yard freestyle (23.74) and 100-yard butterfly (56.76). The Panthers’ 200-yard girls freestyle relay team, which competed at Mason, edged out all qualifiers with a time of 1:40.13.
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