WHS, CM swimmers need speed to advance to state

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Wilmington and Clinton-Massie swimmers will need to increase their efforts Friday if they want to advance to the state meet.

“At this point in the season, in order to make it to the next level, you have to be faster than your competitor,” WHS head coach Mitch Hopf said. “I can’t wait to see what everyone will be able to do on Friday and hopefully we can make the trip to Canton.”

Hurricane and Falcon swimmers are one step away from the state meet in Canton. In the Div. II Southwest District meet at Miami University, competition will begin at 10:45 a.m. Friday for the boys and 5:45 p.m. for the girls.

The top two finishers in each swimming event at each district, plus 16 at-large qualifiers based on time from all districts, will qualify for the 89th annual boys state meet and the 40th annual girls state meet.

“All eight (Wilmington) swimmers have worked extremely hard all season long and now is the time for it to pay off,” said Hopf. “February is time of year where swimming fast counts the most. We had several first team All-SCOL event winners a couple weeks ago. At sectionals this past weekend, we saw lifetime bests from almost everyone and now as we gear up for the district meet I’m anticipating even better swims.”

Clinton-Massie’s Drew Puckett, who had a previous commitment for this weekend, qualified for the district meet but will not be participating.

Based on his sectional times, he would have been seeded 32nd in the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 2:02.91 and 18th in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:28.

Wilmington has two boys and two girls relay teams in the district meet.

The boys 400-yard freestyle is seeded 13th with a time of 3:42.38. The boy 200-yard freestyle is seeded 20th with a time of 1:41.56.

The girls 400-yard freestyle team is seeded 13th with a time of 4:02.22. The girls 200-yard medley relay team has a time of 2:03.86 and is seeded 19th.

Individually, Gracie Storm of Clinton-Massie has the highest seeding. She is ninth in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:26.02. The CM junior is seeded 13th (1:01.5) in the 100-yard backstroke. Storm set a new Clinton-Massie girls record in the 100-yard breaststroke this year as well as a new South Central Ohio League record in the 200-yard freestyle, CM coach Kacie Jenkins said.

Wilmington senior Austin Carey is 21st in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.6 seconds. Harrison Law, a WHS sophomore, is 22nd in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.2 seconds. WHS sophomore Sam Osborn had a time of 53.76 in the 100-yard free and is seeded 31st.

Alison Dooley, a junior at WHS, is seeded 24th (1:14.95) in the 100-yard breaststroke and 28th (2:31.58) in the 200-yard individual medley.

Alyssa Lewis, a WHS senior, is seeded 11th (25.77) in the 50-yard free and 13th (55.64) in the 100-yard free

Drew Puckett of Clinton-Massie qualified for the district meet in two events but will be unable to swim due to a prior commitment.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2016/02/web1_SW_cm_puckett-2.jpgDrew Puckett of Clinton-Massie qualified for the district meet in two events but will be unable to swim due to a prior commitment. Linda Rinehart | News Journal File

By Mark Huber

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Reach Mark Huber at 937-556-5765, or on Twitter @wnjsports.

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