“We just have so much talent that came to us all at once,” said Cougars longtime coach Heather Shaffer.
Kenton Ridge’s boys team won the meet with 149 points, while Springfield placed second with 72 points. The Cougars girls team scored 162 points, while Northwestern placed second with 89 points.
“You never get tired of winning,” Shaffer said. “The boys don’t necessarily swim to win meets anymore. We’re trying to get meet records and team records. Because of their talent level, they’re able to set different goals at different times of the year. They’re constantly breaking school records and meet records, even if they’re their own (record). It’s fun.”
The Cougars set three meet records at the meet. In the 50 freestyle, junior Evan Blazer won the race in a time of 21.76 seconds, while senior Seth Thomas was runner-up in 22.75 seconds — both setting the previous mark of 22.78 seconds set by Thomas in 2019.
“There’s never any hard feelings or animosity,” Shaffer said. “They’re always breaking each other’s records, so it’s just whoever has it when they graduate, that’s the goal.”
The defending Division II state champion 200 free relay team of Thomas, senior Dylan Day, junior Chase Fyffe and Blazer set a new meet record of 1.29.98. Last season, the Cougars won the state title in 1:27.43, claiming the first state championship in school history for the Cougars swimming program.
Blazer also set a new meet record in the 200-yard freestyle, winning the event in 1:46.28.
Fyffe also won the 100 butterfly (54.31) and the 100 back (157.85), Day won the 200 individual medley in 2:07.77 and Mayhan won the 500 free in 5:17.29. Thomas also won the 100 breast in 1:01.39.
The Cougars girls team graduated two seniors from last year’s squad in Gwen Thomas and Sydney Jones, but freshmen Jayleigh Brown and Alyssa Shaffer have helped fill the void.
“They’re fitting right in,” Heather Shaffer said. “They’re stepping up and helping us fill the absence of those girls that graduated.”
Cougars junior Ryleigh Brown won both the 200 free (2:10.87) and the 100 backstroke (1:04.47), while Jayleigh Brown won the 50 free (25.33) and the 100 free (59.10). Shaffer also won the 100 Butterfly in 1:09.90.
The boys team finished eighth in the Southwest Ohio Classic at the Keating Natatorium in Cincinnati this weekend, scoring 133 points.
The Cougars will now set their sights on the Central Buckeye Conference Championship meet, which will be held on Jan. 29 at the Springfield YMCA.
Kenton Ridge’s boys team have won the conference championship each of the past three seasons and four of the last five years. The Cougars girls team are seeking their first CBC title in school history.
“It’s not just a hope, it’s definitely an expectation,” Heather Shaffer said. “I won’t accept anything less on both sides. Our girls have never won, so this is a chance that they can win it for the first time.”
About the Author