Eight Stow-Munroe Falls swimmers, 4 men and 4 ladies, represented the Bulldogs and put a stamp on an outstanding season, this past weekend in the State Championships at Cantons CT Branin Natatorium.
The Bulldogs sent two swimmers, senior co-captain Ben Bowser (200 IM) and junior Erin Duchon (100 breaststroke), in individual events and 2 relays (mens 400 free relay and ladies 200 medley relay).
Upper Arlington easily took the state crown on the ladies side with 419 points, with Cincinnati Ursuline a distant second with 222 points. This is Upper Arlingtons fourth consecutive state championship.
Junior Erin Duchon had a very good weekend qualifying for the championship finals in the 100 breaststroke and placing 4th overall in the finals. Erin swam a school record 1:05.48 and was placed the highest out of the swimmers from the Northeast Ohio region.
The ladies 200 medley relay comprised of sophomore Shelbey Mitchell (backstroke), Duchon (breaststroke), junior Vicki Moga (butterfly) and senior Alyson Kolesar (freestyle) continued to drop time at the state meet as they had at sectionals and districts.
This is the second consecutive year these 4 have competed together at the state meet in the 200 medley relay. They came into the meet seeded 19th. They swam a 1:52.37 in the prelims to qualify them for the consolation finals. They then dropped another.44 seconds, to swim a 1:51.93 (a school record) and place 11th overall for the championship.
This was last meet for 4 seniors, Alyson Kolesar, Adam Wagner, Ben Bowser and Steven Kaminski. These four, as well as seniors Rachel Weitzel, Renee Oneacre, Grace Einsporn, Jen Hasebein, Alex Blohm, Cody Helms and Dan Page put in many hours of hard work and provided many exciting performances in the pool.
2/16/08 Stow vs Districts Swimming @ Cleveland St. Busby Nat. (N/A)
Ladies Advance 4 To State Meet
The Stow-Munroe Falls men and women swimming and diving teams sent 19 swimmers and 1 diver to Cleveland States Busby Natatorium this past weekend to compete at the Northeast Ohio District Championship.
The ladies and the mens teams performed respectably in what traditionally is a very competitive district. The men finished in the top 10, placing 9th with 81 points, while the Lady Bulldogs placed 14th overall with 64.5 points.
The Solon Comets captured the district crown in the ladies competition with 248 points followed by Strongsville with 226, Mentor 178, Rocky River 145 and Firestone rounded out the top five with 128.5 points.
The top 5 individuals and relays from the womens competition automatically advance to the State Championship next weekend at Canton McKinleys CT Branin Natatorium. There are then 11 at large qualifiers from the 4 districts combined.
The Lady Bulldogs had one automatic qualifier for next weeks state meet. Junior Erin Duchon qualified in the 100 yard breaststroke. Erin placed 2nd overall with a time of 1:06.29. Solon senior and 2-time defending state champion Alisa Vereshchagin took first with a 1:03.61.
Also competing next weekend for the ladies will be the 200 medley relay. The relay team placed 6th overall at Cleveland St and lowered their school record time by .45 seconds swimming a 1:52.53. Swimming on the relay are sophomore Shelbey Mitchell (backstroke, 28.55), Duchon (breaststroke, 30.55), junior Vicki Moga (fly, 28.02) and senior Alyson Kolesar (free, 25.30).
Results from other swimmers competing at districts:
2/9/08 Stow vs Sectionals - Swimming @ Akron U. Ocasek Nat. (N/A)
Ladies Place 3rd At Sectionals; 3 Relays and 6 Swimmers In Individaul Events Advance To Districts
The Stow-Munroe Falls swimming and diving team performed outstanding this past weekend in the sectionals held at the University of Akrons Ocasek Natatorium.
The diving competition was held on Thursday evening for both men and women, while men swimmers competed on Friday afternoon and the ladies on Saturday evening.
The Lady Bulldogs finished 3rd place overall at the Akron sectional with 218 points, behind first place Hudson who finished with 340 points followed by Firestone with 315 points. Rounding out the top 5 were Youngstown Boardman with 214 and Canfield with 200.
There were 3 individual champions for the ladies at sectionals. Sophomore Shelbey Mitchell captured the 100 backstroke with a new school record time of 1:01.82, senior Alyson Kolesar won the 200 free with a time of 2:01.43 and junior Erin Duchon tied Canfields Emily King in the 50 free touching with a 25.01. Duchon also set a new school record in the 100 breaststroke with 1:05.58. Erin finished second at sectionals in the breast to Firestone junior Breanna McCann who established a new sectional record with a time of 1:04.86.
Overall the Lady Bulldogs qualified all 3 of their relays for Districts, 5 swimmers in individual events and diver Mialy Wells.
Qualifying for districts were:
· 200 Medley Relay Mitchell (backstroke), Duchon (breaststroke), junior Vicki Moga (Fly) and Kolesar (Free) 1:52.98 2nd at sectionals
· 200 Free Relay junior Melissa Amerman, junior Jen Ciccantelli, senior Renee Oneacre and Duchon 1:44.83
· 400 Free Relay Ciccantelli, Mitchell, Oneacre and Kolesar 3:49.75
· 200 Free Kolesar 1st at sectionals 2:01.43
· 200 IM Mitchell 2:24.64
· 50 Free Duchon 1st at sectionals 25.01
· 100 Fly Oneacre 1:05.42
· 500 Free junior Tessa Wilson 5:41.30
· 100 Backstroke Mitchell 1st at sectionals 1:01.82 (school record); Kolesar 3rd at sectionals 1:02.18; senior Rachel Weitzel 1:04.98
· 100 Breaststroke Duchon 2nd at sectionals 1:05.58 (school record)
· Diving Mialy Wells 7th at sectionals with 321.30 points
Results from other swimmers competing at sectionals:
Ladies End Season With Strong Performance Against Walsh
The Stow-Munroe Falls Bulldog men and womens swimmers and divers ended their seasons with identical 8-1 overall records as the ladies defeated Walsh Jesuit 112-71 and the men came up a little short against the Warriors losing 99-77 last Friday night at the Akron General Medical Center North pool.
The Lady Bulldogs took first in 11 out of the 12 events in their win over the Lady Warriors.
Senior Alyson Kolesar and junior Erin Duchon were double winners in their individual events. Kolesar winning the 200 free (2:03.32) and 100 back (1:03.13) while Duchon took firsts in the 200 IM (2:21.54) and 100 breaststroke (1:08.75). Both also contributed to their winning relay teams. Kolesar in the 200 and 400 free relays; Duchon in the 200 medley and 200 free relays.
The ladies took first in all three relays. The 200 medley relay team of sophomore Shelbey Mitchell (back, 29.34), Duchon (breast, 31.30), junior Vicki Moga (fly, 28.42) and junior Jen Ciccantelli (free, 26.93) won in a time of 1:55.99; the 200 free relay of Ciccantelli (27.72), Moga (27.41), senior Renee Oneacre (26.56), Duchon (25.56) took first with a 1:47.25; the 400 free relay of Oneacre (1:00.29), Wilson (59.87), Mitchell (1:00.45), Kolesar (59.39) touched the wall first in 4:00 flat.
