2023 OHSAA Swimming and Diving State Tournament Recaps
Girls Division II
CANTON, Ohio – After five-consecutive years finishing as state runner-up, Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown totaled 308 points to unseat Gates Mills Hawken as the OHSAA Division II girls swimming and diving state champion Friday night at C.T. Branin Natatorium.
Hathaway Brown swimmers won four events and had six other Top 4 finishes to break Hawken’s streak of 24-consecutive state championships, which dated back to 1999. The Hawks finished with 265 points, led by one win and five Top 3 finishes.
Hathaway Brown got things started early with a win in the 200 yard medley relay from junior Claire Mehok, freshman Sofia Jimenez, junior Lilly Mehok and senior Taplin Seelbach.
Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy sophomore Julia Shafer won the 200 yard individual medley, but Hathaway Brown’s Claire and Lilly Mehok and Jimenez finished second, fourth and fifth, respectively, to put the Blazers further out in front early on.
Grandview Heights sophomore Carrie Furbee won the 50 and 100 freestyles. Lilly Mehok won the 100 yard butterfly for her second gold medal of the night. Hawken junior Sarah Pophal won the 500 yard freestyle to pull the Hawks closer to Hathaway Brown, but in the next event, the Blazers got another win as junior Iris Qi, senior Meredith Stewart, sophomore Beatrice Stewart and Seelbach won the 200 yard freestyle relay. The Stewarts also placed in two other events to help build HB’s point total.
The Mehoks, Seelbach and Meredith Stewart put an exclamation point on the state title for Hathaway Brown by winning the final event, the 400 yard freestyle relay.
The girls Division II performer of the meet was Kami Periat from Port Clinton.
Boys Division II
CANTON, Ohio – Hunting Valley University School notched one event win and had a multitude of placers to wrack up 290.5 points and win the OHSAA Division II boys swimming and diving state championship Friday night at C.T. Branin Natatorium. It marks University School’s eighth state title and second in a row.
Cincinnati Indian Hill was the state runner-up with 172 points, featuring five event wins.
Scoring points in every event except one, University School’s event win was in the 200 freestyle relay, with senior Jack Faulkner, junior Miguel Figueroa, senior Ian Sullivan and senior Tyler Farkas earning gold. US had five top-four placers and many other point-scorers.
Cincinnati Indian Hill sophomore Jason Zhao set the state record and state tournament record in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:24.01.
University School senior Cameron Bizjak took second in diving and US took second in the first swimming event, when sophomore Alex Pesek, senior Aiden Owens, junior Ben Davis and senior Jack Faulkner took sliver in the 200 yard medley relay.
Indian Hill’s other four event wins came in the 200 yard individual medley relay, the 200 yard individual medley, the 100 yard butterfly, the 500 yard freestyle and the 400 yard freestyle relay. Senior Gibson Holmes won the two individual titles, while the 200 yard relay squad was sophomore Arjun Velayutham, Zhao, Holmes and senior Jack Edmonson and the 400 yard relay team was Velayutham, Zhao, junior Jeffrey Wenker and Holmes.
The boys Division II performer of the meet was Gibson Holmes from Cincinnati Indian Hill.
Girls Division I
Dublin Jerome Claims Its First State Swimming Title in School History
CANTON, Ohio – The Dublin Jerome girls swimming team won its first state title in school history at the 2023 OHSAA Swimming State Tournament on Saturday night at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton. The Celtics compiled 225 points, which was 10 points better than state runner-up Upper Arlington (215).
Jerome swimmers won one event and had four Top 3 finishes. In Jerome’s final event, sophomore Milly Leonard, senior Zoe Musselman, senior Libby Grether, and sophomore Olivia Matson put up an exclamation point on the state title by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Dublin Coffman junior Emily Brown won the 200-yard freestyle. Jerome followed right behind as second place runner-up from senior Grether and a Top 3 finish by sophomore Leonard.
Upper Arlington’s senior Ava Snider, junior McCall Freiburger, sophomore Hayden Hollingsworth, and freshman Ashton Mumaw kicked things off with an early win in the 200-yard medley relay. After some early success, Upper Arlington sophomore Hollingsworth also won the 50-yard freestyle along with a Top 3 finish by Upper Arlington junior Lizzie Oliphant.
Avon junior Alex Downing won the 100-yard butterfly and New Albany senior Carly Meeting won the 100-yard freestyle.
The 200-yard freestyle relay was won by Upper Arlington sophomore Freiburger, junior Oliphant, junior Emmy Campbell, and sophomore Hollingsworth but right behind was Dublin Jerome as the runner-up. In the next two events, New Albany senior Meeting won the 100-yard backstroke and Cincinnati St. Ursula Academy sophomore Addie Robillard won the 100-yard breaststroke & 200-yard individual medley.
The girls Division I performer of the meet was Addie Robillard from Cincinnati St. Ursula.
Boys Division I
Cincinnati St. Xavier Reclaims State Swimming Title
CANTON, Ohio – After having its 22-consecutive year state championship streak broken in 2022, Cincinnati St. Xavier reclaimed the OHSAA Division I boys swimming state championship Saturday night at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton for the school’s 43rd state swimming title overall. St. Xavier totaled 287 points, which was 105 points better than runner-up Upper Arlington (182).
St. Xavier swimmers won four events and had two Top 3 finishes. St. Xavier kicked off the state tournament with a win in its first event, putting up a 3:03.28 in the 200-yard medley relay.
St. Xavier junior Thackston McMullan followed up the first event with a win in the 200-yard freestyle, putting up a 1:35.86. St. Xavier junior Thackston McMullan won the 500-yard freestyle (4:26.26) along with a Top 3 finish from St. Xavier junior Alex Ingram (4:34.60). Cincinnati Sycamore Senior Bryce Menchhofer was the runner-up (4:31.96).
Westerville Central junior Chase Swearingen won the 200-yard individual medley (1:46.67) and closely behind was runner-up Upper Arlington senior Grant Gooding (1:47.85).
Akron Firestone senior Jonny Marshall won the 100-yard backstroke with a 46.31 and the runner-up was Toledo St. Francis de Sales senior Scotty Buff (46.71). In the 100-yard butterfly, Buff set the state tournament record (44.97) while claiming a win for that event.
In the final event, St. Xavier junior Alex Ingram, sophomore Jaeger Ellerman, senior Luca Eckert and junior Thackston McMullan finished the tournament with an exclamation point by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:03.28). The runner-up was Dublin Jerome senior Luke Dauer, freshman Alex Wu, senior Dean Sherrer and senior Nicky Leonard (3:04.21).
The boys Division I performer of the meet was Scotty Buff from Toledo St. Francis de Sales.