There’s nothing like a pineapple to push a group of high schoolers to swim as fast as they can.
It certainly did the trick at Thursday night’s first annual Delaware County Relay Invitational at Ohio Wesleyan.
The format was simple enough: the county’s boys and girls swimming teams competed in eight relay events with each winning relay earning a pineapple.
In girls’ action, the top team was Olentangy.
The Braves earned themselves three pineapples when all was said and done. Grace Horstman, Oli Gollmar, Bridget Parker and Liz Passias teamed up to win the 850-yard crescendo relay (9:03.49); Gollmar, Julia Ritzler, Lauren Householder and Emily Espy won the 200 freestyle relay (1:48.92); and Espy, Parker, Gollmar and Ritzler combined to win the 200 medley relay (1:56.17).
Delaware Hayes and Olentangy Liberty were also solid, winning a combined five relays of their own.
The Pacers, who finished second, took top honors in the 400 freestyle relay (Valerie Keller, Emily Abahazi, Kelly Godfrey and Danielle Ward) and 200 underwater freestyle relay (Keller, Rena Ouyang, Katie Amrine and Ward) in respective times of 3:52.07 and 1:59.37.
The Patriots, meanwhile, won the 200 fly-breast relay (Rachel Peroni, Avery Venetta, Lila Leary and Emily Ziliak), the 200 backstroke relay (Hannah Beavers, Abby Noonan, Allison Kenny and Kate Saczawa) and the 300 individual medley relay (Grace Skoog, Ziliak and Noonan).
Olentangy Orange and Big Walnut smoothed out the scoring summary, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
As for the boys, Liberty, Olentangy and Orange took the top three spots while Hayes and Big Walnut rounded out the team standings.
The Patriots won the 850 crescendo relay (Jack Hiltner, Joseph Johnson III, Dylan Ingram and John Bently), the 200 backstroke relay (Blake Overly, Matthew Patterson, Christopher Tracewell and Andrew Gehring), the 200 freestyle relay (Alexander Wisler, Bently, Eli Grubbs and Tracewell) and the 300 individual medley relay (Isaac Iverson, Grubbs and Bently).
The Pioneers earned themselves a pineapple or two, picking up first-place points in the 200 fly-breast relay (Mason Reid, Nicholas Chugh, Patrick Mahoney and Graham Weidenhamer) and 400 freestyle relay (Ronak Tripathy, Cullen Dickson, Reid and Mahoney).
The Pacers and Braves also got a taste of some tropical fruit. Hayes won the 200 medley relay (Aidan Stojkov, Paul Carter, Adryan Rojas and Andrew Sarna) while Olentangy won the 200 underwater freestyle relay (Benjamin Kuriger, Jack Nebraska, Preston Kuriger and Garrett Graybill).
