The Olentangy Liberty swimming and diving teams certainly made a splash over the weekend as the Patriot boys and girls picked up league titles at the OCC-Buckeye Division Swimming and Diving Championships at Thomas Worthington.
The boys finished with a meet-best 400.5 points. Olentangy Orange and Olentangy finished second and third with scores of 259 and 210, respectively, while Westerville North was fourth with 163, Westerville South closed fifth with 142 and Westerville Central was sixth with 73.
In girls’ action, Liberty finished with 279 points to secure top honors. Olentangy finished second with 273.5 and Olentangy Orange smoothed out the top three with 186. Westerville Central, North and South rounded out the scoring summary with respective point totals of 182.5, 161 and 145.
Patriot standouts included Morgan Menninger, who won the girls 1-meter diving event (453.70); Kate Saczawa, who won the girls 50 freestyle (24.86 seconds) and 100 backstroke (58.07 seconds); Rachel Peroni, who secured top honors in the girls 100 butterfly (58.53 seconds) and 200 individual medley (2:12.46); the girls 400 freestyle relay team, which won its event in 3:41.31; and the boys 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams, which won in respective times of 1:30.76 and 3:20.85.
Other area winners included Olentangy’s Benjamin Kuriger, who picked up first-place points in the boys 100 freestyle (45.62 seconds) and 200 individual medley (2:00); the Braves’ Bridget Parker, who won the girls 200 and 500 freestyles (1:56.96 and 5:14.57, respectively); Olentangy’s girls 200 medley relay team (1:50.96); Orange’s Luke Cheetham, who won the boys 1-meter diving event (413.80); and Orange’s boys 200 medley relay team (1:41.50).
OCC-Capital Division Championships
Big Walnut posted a handful of steady showings at the OCC-Capital Division Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday and Saturday in New Albany.
The boys finished sandwiched between New Albany (458.5) and Canal Winchester (206), second with 278 points. The girls, meanwhile, closed third with 139 points behind New Albany (459) and Canal Winchester (295).
Big Walnut’s best finish on the boys side came from Dominic Carifa, who won the 200 individual medley (2:03.35) and nabbed runner-up honors in the 100 butterfly (56.79 seconds).
Colin White was also solid, winning the 1-meter diving event (382.55). The Golden Eagles also finished second in the 200 (1:43.45) and 400 (3:41.24) freestyle relays to pad their point total.
As for the girls, their best effort came in the 1-meter diving event, where Eliana Smith finished with a meet-best score of 296.
OCC-Cardinal Division Championships
The Delaware Hayes girls finished second and the boys followed suit at Friday and Saturday’s OCC-Cardinal Division Swimming and Diving Championships at Thomas Worthington.
The Pacer girls finished with 244 points, a mark second only to Dublin Jerome’s 264.5. Thomas Worthington (204), Hilliard Darby (172.5), Dublin Scioto (154), Worthington Kilbourne (137) and Hilliard Bradley (79) smoothed out the scoring summary.
Hayes’ boys matched the effort of the girls, finishing second with 222 points. Dublin Jerome was again the league champ, finishing with 412 points, while Thomas Worthington (150), Dublin Scioto (145), Worthington Kilbourne (137), Hilliard Darby (115) and Hilliard Bradley (60) rounded out the list of team scores.
The Pacers were led by Danielle Ward, who won the girls 100 backstroke (1:03.65) and finished second in the 100 butterfly (1:01.54); Sam Sulek, who won the boys 1-meter diving event (332.15); Elizabeth Abahazi, who finished second in the girls 500 freestyle (5:43.13); and Paul Carter, who closed second in the boys 100 breaststroke (1:03.99).
