CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio - The
finished fifth among 100 YMCA swim teams from Ohio and surrounding states during the recent Great Lakes Zone Championship.
The Tigersharks were the highest-scoring Ohio team at the multi-state competition, held March 13-15 at Bowling Green State University. YMCA swimmers from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia had to achieve tough qualifying times during the 2012-13 season to compete at the regional championship meet.
"I'm proud we were able to send 42 swimmers in individual events or relays to the Zone Championship this year," coach Dale Craddock said. "They did a great job representing the Tigersharks."
Andrew Appleby of Silver Lake scored the most points for the Tigersharks by finishing first in his age group in six events. Appleby won the 15-and-older boys 100-yard backstroke – the same event he won at this year's high school state swimming championship – with a time of 51.12 seconds. He also won the 200 individual medley with a personal best time of 1:55.25, the 200 backstroke, the 100 butterfly, the 50 backstroke and the 50 butterfly and finished third in the 50 freestyle.
Kaden Smesko of Green had a pair of first-place finishes in the 10-and-under boys 50 backstroke (31.08) and 100 freestyle (1:01.22), along with two second-places finishes in the 200 freestyle (2:14.22) and 50 butterfly (31.20).
Giovanna Cappabianca of Stow set another personal record in one of her strongest events, the 100 breaststroke, to finish first among 11-12 girls with a time of 1:08.82. She went 32.64 seconds in the 50 breaststroke to finish second and 2:18.60 in the 200 IM to take third.
Richie Kurlich of Kent also had his best time in the 100 breaststroke to finish third among 11-12 boys with a time of 1:10.86. His other top 10 finishes included a fourth-place showing in the 50 breaststroke, sixth in the 500 freestyle and 200 IM, seventh in the 100 IM and eighth in the 50 freestyle. His twin brother, Andrew, added to the team's points by dropping more than a second from his seed time in the 50 butterfly to finish 16th (29.72).
Continuing the trend of personal records, Braden Nold of Cuyahoga Falls dropped almost two seconds in the 11-12 boys 100 breaststroke to finish sixth. He also went 57.95 seconds in the 100 backstroke to take eighth.
Ryan Hillyer of Silver Lake finished third in the 15-and-over boys 200 freestyle with a personal record of 1:47.45. For the 15-and-older girls, Kelsey Wenk improved 1.53 seconds in the 100 freestyle to take fifth in 53.94 seconds. She also finished seventh in the 100 backstroke (1:00.97).
Other Tigersharks who scored points by finishing among the top 16 in an individual event include Jack Kramer of Cuyahoga Falls, Jacob Earle of Stow, Natalie Rohweder of Green, Katie Rozsa of Silver Lake, Marcy Spann of Cuyahoga Falls, Eric Vlahos of Munroe Falls and Emerson Zahab of Akron.
Several outstanding relay performances helped secure the team's fifth-place finish.
The 13-14 girls placed second in the 200 freestyle and medley relays. Marcy Spann joined Maggie Haas of Hudson, Marissa Kassinger of Silver Lake and Lauren Heller of Stow for the free relay; Natalie Rohweder, Haas, Heller and Kassinger combined for the medley relay team.
The 10-and-under boys team of Kaden Smesko, Drew Rush of Cuyahoga Falls, Calvin Kampman of Hudson and Luke Novak of Stow also finished second in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 2:00.92.
The 11-12 girls foursome of Giovanna Cappabianca, Katie Rozsa, Emerson Zahab and Marissa Bowers of Cuyahoga Falls placed third in the 200 freestyle and medley relays. Also finishing third was the senior boys 400 medley relay team of Andrew Appleby, Jacob Earle, Ryan Hiller and Will Turnbull of Silver Lake.