by Taylor Boggs ’16, Sports Section Editor
Two weekends ago, on January 18th and 19th, our swimming program participated in the annual Southwest District Coaches Classic. The coed team competed at Milford High School against many schools including Mariemont, Summit, and Anderson. Whether it was winning a heat, placing in the top sixteen, dropping a few seconds, or making it to finals—each of the swimmers raced in a heart pumping and adrenaline inducing meet.
As swimmers say, “In the water, your only enemy is the clock.” At the Coaches Classic, the largest high school meet in the
U.S., our athletes got the opportunity to swim against some of the best swimmers in the state of Ohio. While it is too soon to use the results of the Classic as a barometer for the state meet, the scores and times give the teams ideas about training and preparation leading up to the competition in Canton.
Allie Wooden, one of our very own juniors, was one of the prospective swimmers at the Classic. During finals, she placed first in the 50 free with a time of 23.77 (.03 seconds faster than her competitor Temarie Tomley from Ursuline Academy), second in the 100 free, third in the 200 free, and fifth in the 200 backstroke. Our girls A relay (Kira Hughes, Allie Wooden, Celia Macrae, and Holly Jacobs) also made it to finals for the 400 and 200 free relays; they moved up two places in both events from their seed times.
The team has one more meet during their regular season against Clark and Summit. Next weekend they will compete in the MVC & SOSL meet (the
league
meet). From there, the steps to the state meet begin: first—sectionals, second—districts, and third—the OHSAA State Meet. Over the next month, the team will be attending practices (seven times a week) and weight training (three times a week) trying the prepare themselves for the upcoming competitions. They will literally be living the lives of swimmers: Eat. Sleep. Swim.
