High School Recap: 6 State Champions & More!
Congratulations to all of our 2017 OHSAA state qualifiers! We had 43 swimmers qualify for 113 individual and relay events in Canton last weekend. Six OSSC swimmers won state championships for their high school teams. A recap of the state finals is below.
| OSSC STATE CHAMPIONS | |
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| Jason Mathews: D1 100 breast |
Miranda Donley, Jordan Aurnou-Rhees,
Maggie Wagenbrenner: D2 200 free relay
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| Miranda Donley: D2 50 free & 100 free | Logan Lawhorn: D2 100 breast |
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| Hudson McDaniel: D2 100 breast | Miranda Donley: D2 Swimmer of the Meet |
DIVISION I
200 Medley Relay: In the first event of the session, Janessa Mathews (BR: 28.13) and Grace Cherryhomes (FL: 25.90) helped Pickerington North to a 17th-place finish in the consol heat of the 200 medley relay. On the men’s side, Ben Sugar (BA: 22.88) swam the leadoff leg for St. Charles’ 4th-place finish. Senior Jonathan Liu swam the breaststroke leg (26.85) to help Dublin Jerome place 6th.
200 Free: In the first individual event of the evening, McKayla Moffat (1:53.43) placed 14th for New Albany and Bridget Parker (1:53.90) finished 15th for Olentangy in the 200 free. Ben Kuriger also represented Olentangy in this event, placing 8th in finals with a 1:41.60 (1:40.48 in prelims). Pearson Spychalski almost won the consol heat, touching in 1:41.57 to place 10th for New Albany. Patrick Pema also competed in the consol heat, placing 15th for St. Charles with a 1:44.40 (1:43.40 in prelims).
200 IM: We had two ladies in the consol heat of the 200 IM. Rachel Peroni (2:06.74) and Mia Lachey (2:06.84) both dropped time to place 11th for Olentangy Liberty and 12th for New Albany, respectively. Jason Mathews gave Pickerington North a 5th-place finish at 1:51.67.
50 Free: In the women’s 50 free, “Downtown” Mia Brown placed 10th in 24.03 to gain valuable points for Watterson. For the men’s 50, we had two big boy swims as Hans Kabelka finished fifth for St. Charles (20.85) and Major Belli touched 7th for Gahanna (21.27).
100 Fly: Rachel Peroni had her highest finish of the meet in the 100 fly, placing 4th in 55.33. Ben Kuriger shook off some of his district sickness to place 3rd with a 49.41. Unfortunately, the sickness bug hit Ben Sugar on Saturday, as he gave his best effort and still gained valuable points for St. Charles with an 8th-place finish (49.93 in prelims).
100 Free: In the 100 free, McKayla Moffat competed in her second individual event of the day, placing 13th with a 52.41. Junior Lauren Cooper also competed in this event, finishing 16th for Dublin Jerome with a 53.28 (52.66 in prelims). In the men’s final heat, Hans Kabelka and Eddie Michael raced each other to the wall, with Hans touching 3rd in 45.19 and Eddie placing 4th for Dublin Coffman in 45.51. Pearson Spychalski had another strong swim for New Albany, placing 13th with a 47.50.
500 Free: Bridget Parker was our sole representative in the 500 free, placing 16th after having qualified with a strong 5:04.91.
200 Free Relay: Mia Lachey (24.12) and McKayla Moffat (23.70) helped New Albany to a 6th-place finish in the 200 free relay. The Liberty ladies won the consol heat, with Kate Saczawa (24.52), Ally Braun (24.65) and Rachel Peroni (24.10) swimming three strong legs. For the men, Hans Kabelka (21.11) and Patrick Pema (21.58) helped St. Charles to a 3rd-place finish. Eddie Michael (21.07) also had a strong leadoff for Dublin Coffman, helping them place 5th.
100 Back: In the 100 back, freshman Kate Saczawa had a strong showing with a 6th-place finish (56.25). We had three men in this event, with Eddie Michael placing 3rd (50.47), Ben Sugar 5th (51.42 – 49.99 in prelims), and Patrick Pema 7th (51.59).
100 Breast: Janessa Mathews had a great showing in the 100 breast, placing 3rd in 1:02.33 after a strong prelim swim of 1:01.80. Jason Mathews kept the family breaststroke momentum going, winning a state championship with a 54.91 (currently the 4th fastest time in OHSAA history).
400 Free Relay: In the final event of the evening, Mia Lachey (51.92) and McKayla Moffat (52.68) paced New Albany to an 8th-place finish in the 400 free relay. Ally Braun (54.24), Kate Saczawa (53.26) and Rachel Peroni (52.17) helped Olentangy finish 12th. In the men’s race, St. Charles swam to another 3rd-place finish with Hans Kabelka (45.24), Patrick Pema (47.29) and Ben Sugar (45.93) swimming strong legs. In consols, Eddie Michael swam a blazing anchor of 44.62 to help Dublin Coffman win the heat.
DIVISION II
200 Medley Relay: The Grandview ladies helped their school to a 10th-place finish, as Keelin O’Connor (BA: 28.96), Leah Stamm (BR: 30.38) and Annie Volker (FL: 27.33) swam the first three legs. Freshman Olivia Bergmann (BA: 28.22) helped her Hartley relay finish right behind Grandview in 11th place. Logan Lawhorn (BR: 29.18) had the fastest breaststroke split of the meet to help Liberty Union to a 14th-place finish. The Columbus Academy threesome of Max Dreisbach, Nate Goldfarb and Jacob Eismann felt a broad range of emotions, as they were informed of a DQ after initially thinking they had won the event for CA.
200 Free: Calvin Furbee made the most of his opportunity, placing 5th for Grandview (1:43.08) while swimming near the new state record-holder, Cody Bybee, who eclipsed a 26-year-old state record held by Olympic gold medalist Joe Hudepohl.
200 IM: Freshman Jordan Aurnou-Rhees had a strong 5th-place finish in the 200 IM for CSG, touching in 2:06.78. Alli McFarland and Logan Lawhorn competed in the consol heat, with Alli finishing 10th (2:08.70) and Logan finishing 16th (2:09.39 in prelims). Max Dreisbach (1:52.82) and Nate Goldfarb (1:55.70) placed 5th and 7th for CA.
50 Free: Senior Miranda Donley had an awesome showing for CSG, just missing the state record as she won by over a second with a 22.49. Her teammate, Maggie Wagenbrenner, had 
a similar showing in the consol heat, touching first in that heat at 24.30. Jacob Eismann competed in the final heat and finished 6th with a 21.25.
100 Fly: Jordan Aurnou-Rhees had another strong individual showing with a 3rd-place finish (56.71). Fellow freshman Olivia Bergmann swam in consols, touching 15th in 59.35 after a 58.73 in prelims. Max Dreisbach completed his second individual event of the day with a 4th-place finish (51.14). He also had the privilege of being in the same heat as Cody Bybee, who lowered the state record in this event as well.
100 Free: Miranda Donley used a great first 50 to win her second state championship of the meet in 49.41. Teammate Maggie Wagenbrenner finished in 53.18 to place 15th. On the men’s side, Hudson McDaniel dropped more time for a 5th-place finish for Ashland (46.33).
500 Free: In the 500 free, Calvin Furbee was our only D2 representative, narrowly missing a win in the consol heat with a 10th-place time of 4:43.85.
200 Free Relay: The CSG ladies once again stood on top of the podium, swimming to a win and a new state record with Miranda Donley (22.86), Jordan Aurnou-Rhees (23.78) and Maggie Wagenbrenner (23.70). The Grandview ladies were also in the final heat, with Leah Stamm (25.20), Martina Moncolova (25.31) and Annie Volker (25.28) swimming the first three legs as they placed 7th. Senior Dylan Warren led-off Columbus Academy in 23.33 to help them to a 12th-place finish.
100 Back: Jacob Eismann had a strong showing in the 100 back, placing 4th in 50.96 after a 50.63 prelim swim.
100 Breast: The OSSC was well-represented in this event, as Logan Lawhorn won her first state championship in 1:03.39. Alli McFarland (1:05.48) and Laramie Reed (1:07.09) placed 9th and 12th, respectively. Hudson McDaniel and Nate Goldfarb had a rematch of last season, with Hudson winning the state championship (55.90) and Nate placing second (56.77).
400 Free Relay: CSG finished the meet strong, as Jordan Aurnou-Rhees (52.57), Maggie Wagenbrenner (52.98) and Miranda Donley (49.77) helped their team to a runner-up relay finish and team finish. Olivia Bergmann also had a good leadoff leg for Hartley in 54.78. The Columbus Academy men also had a strong showing in this event, placing second as Max Dreisbach (48.09), Nate Goldfarb (49.12) and Jacob Eismann (45.94) paced their team.
