Blonds do have more fun: Swimmers live and dye on making it to districts

MANSFIELD – This is the stage of the high school swim season where it can look like a Ken convention broke out around the pool deck.

Blond-haired young men, everywhere you look.

SECTIONAL SWIM RECAP: ‘Survive and move on’: Sectional swim champs build momentum for districts

It would be easy to mistake this phenomenon as a tribute to the Barbie craze sweeping the nation when, in fact, these group dye jobs are a long-standing tradition to reflect school spirit and represent solidarity among teammates.

So what did Ontario sophomore Grantham Trumpower, who has naturally dark brown hair, see when he looked in the mirror? Did he see Ryan Gosling riding shotgun in Barbie’s pink Corvette?

“It’s pretty crazy,” he said. “I never had blond hair before. It’s a weird contrast with my dark eyebrows, but my hair was already pretty dead (from the chlorine in the water), so I was like, ‘I might as well do blond.’ I’m going to buzz it anyway (for this week’s Division II district meet at Bowling Green).”

One way Trumpower could stand out from the rest of the blondies was with his performance inside the Frank Bartholow Natatorium. In that respect, last week’s sectional meet was a huge success.

He was a quadruple champion, winning the 50 freestyle (22.78) and 100 free (49.58), beating junior teammate and 100 butterfly champ Evan Ruhe in the shorter sprint and Colonel Crawford’s 200 IM champ Landon Sutter in the longer sprint.

Trumpower also swam the lead-off leg on the champion 200 free and 400 free relays, joined on both crews by Ruhe, junior Logan Bernat (the 100 backstroke champ) and freshman Owen Walter.

Trumpower goes into the district meet seeded No. 1 in the 100 free and No. 6 in the 50 free. Ontario and Lexington are seeded 1 and 2, respectively, in the 400 free relay and Ontario is seeded fourth in the 200 free relay, two spots ahead of Lex.

The girls kick things off in Friday’s meet at 10 a.m. with the boys starting at 4:30. The top three finishers in individual races and two top in relays automatically qualify for next week’s state meet in Canton, with the rest of the 32-person field in individual races and 24-team relay brackets being filled by at-large qualifiers.

In all, north central Ohio boasts five No. 1 seeds at districts, based on their sectional title performances. Trumpower’s freshman sister, Mirielle, sets the pace in the girls 100 butterfly, Shelby junior Emma Montgomery is tops in the girls 500 freestyle and Lex senior Ivan Prykhodko leads the way in the boys 100 breaststroke.

Prykhodko is the top returning state medalist in his specialty after finishing fourth in Canton last winter.

Grantham Trumpower dropped the 200 IM this year, even though it’s the only school record he owns so far, and picked up the 50 free.

“I got the record in the 200 IM out of the way early, so I could move on to the 50 and 100,” he said. “I think I definitely can get those records. It’s not like I’m trying to take down any records, specifically. I just want to see what I’m capable of.”

Trumpower is the only returnee on Ontario’s two state medalist relays. The Warriors were state runner-up in the 200 free and fifth in the 400 free.

The 400 relay always closes out a meet and the best race of sectionals was definitely saved for the last leg of the last race as Ruhe beat Prykhodko to the wall by .74 of a second.

Prykhodko vows revenge at districts, where even more drama could be added if a seventh straight district championship for Lex comes down to that race.

“We had a good start and good finish in that relay (at sectionals),” Ontario coach Debbie Henry said. “I think most of our kids did very, very well.”

Lex coach Brock Spurling feels good about his entire program coming out of sectionals. His champs included the girls 200 medley relay of freshman Kayla Caldwell, junior Julia Wyant, sophomore Maggie Nolan and junior Emma Caldwell, sophomore Katya Prykhodko (Ivan’s sister)  in the 100 breast, the boys 200 medley relay of Prykhodko and juniors Joe Hathaway, Trey Nickoli and Oden Bell, and sophomore double-winner Cooper Watters in the 200 free and 500 free.

“Our kids were fantastic,” Spurling said. “Katya dropped 26 seconds in the 500 free, from 6:16 to 5:50, and she won the breaststroke by three seconds. Those were really big swims.

“Our kids did exactly what we needed them to do. We had a game plan in place and they followed it to a T, for the most part. We set ourselves up very, very well for (districts).”

So what was the game plan for sectionals?

“We have a big dinner Friday at Bowling Green,” Spurling said. “You don’t get a spot, you can’t eat dinner, without being in the top 32 (to qualify for districts).”

Not even franks and beans for the others?

“I’m not pulling the (coach) Urban Meyer stuff out there,” Spurling joked, referring to what the losing team would eat after Ohio State’s spring football game. “Our kids have bought in. They’re locked in. It’s a very mature group. They know what to expect. They’ve been through this.”

Here’s a rundown of the area’s district qualifiers, with seeding:

DIVISION II DISTRICT QUALIFIERS

GIRLS

50 freestyle: 22. Julia Sickmiller, Shelby; 26. Lily Thomas, Lexington

100 freestyle: 12. Emma Caldwell, Lexington; 19. Joie Simmering, Ontario; 21. Julia Sickmiller, Shelby

200 freestyle: 3. Emma Montgomery, Shelby; 4. Kayla Caldwell, Lexington; 6. Emma Caldwell, Lexington; 9. Lily Secrist, Ontario; 14. Brailey Slone, Lexington; 15. Ava Cramer, Mansfield Senior; 16. Emily Woods, Lexington; 20. Tatum Mottayaw, Ontario

500 freestyle: 1. EMMA MONTGOMERY, SHELBY (5:27.58);  11. Brailey Slone, Lexington; 12. Katya Prykhodko, Lexington; 13. Lily Secrist, Ontario; 15. Katie Bolin, Ontario; 16. Ava Cramer, Mansfield Senior; 25. Tatum Mottayaw, Ontario

100 backstroke: 3. Mirielle Trumpower, Ontario; 10. Kayla Caldwell, Lexington; 19. Maggie Nolan, Lexington; 23. Rees Lewis, Shelby; 28. Jordyn Yeager, Ontario

100 breaststroke: 14. Katya Prykhodko, Lexington; 21. Julia Wyant, Lexington; 23. Joie Simmering, Ontario; 26. Lauren Vogt, Shelby; 32. Zoe McNary, Shelby

100 butterfly: 1. MIRIELLE TRUMPOWER, ONTARIO (58.94); 9. Katie Bolin, Ontario; 12. Zoe McNary, Shelby; 19. Jaimy Grubbs, Lexington; 22. Maddie Hedrick, Ontario; 30. Maggie Nolan, Lexington

200 Individual Medley: 14. Julia Wyant, Lexington; 23. Rees Lewis, Shelby; 28. Jaimy Grubbs, Lexington; 30. Anna Perkins, Lexington

200 freestyle relay: 13. Shelby; 19. Lexington; 20. Ontario

400 freestyle relay: 11. Lexington; 13. Ontario

200 medley relay: 7. Lexington; 10. Shelby; 23 Ontario

BOYS

50 freestyle: 6. Grantham Trumpower, Ontario; 10. Evan Ruhe, Ontario; 12. Oden Bell, Lexington; 24. Brayden Rogers, Madison; 32. Paxton Gibson, Shelby; 33. Owen Walter, Ontario

100 freestyle: 1. GRANTHAM TRUMPOWER, ONTARIO (49.58); 12. Isaac McFadden, Lexington; 13. Oden Bell, Lexington; 16. Logan Bernat, Ontario; 19. Paxton Gibson, Shelby; 24. Owen Walter, Ontario; 28 Scott Bartlett, Lexington

200 freestyle: 7. Cooper Watters, Lexington; 8. Isaac McFadden, Lexington; 13. Logan Bartlett, Lexington; 21. Jake Packard, Ashland; 23. Jackson Swiatek, Ontario; 27. Grant Wallery, Ashland

500 freestyle: 10. Cooper Watters, Lexington; 12. Jake Packard, Ashland; 14. Joe Hathaway, Lexington; 19. Jackson Swiatek, Ontario; 21. Mason Jacobus, Madison; 22. Logan Bartlett, Lexington

100 backstroke: 9. Logan Bernat, Ontario; 10. Joe Hathaway, Lexington; 18. Grady Summers, Ashland; 19. Hayden Hitchcock, Ashland; 26. Scott Bartlett, Lexington; 27. Landin McKay, Mansfield Senior

100 breaststroke: 1. IVAN PRYKHODKO, LEXINGTON (1:00.13); 6. Trey Nickoli, Lexington; 17. Carson Smith, Ontario; 19. Owen Garver, Lexington; 21. Peyton McFadden, Lexington; 27. Grant Wallery, Ashland

100 butterfly: 7. Evan Ruhe, Ontario; 11. Landin McKay, Mansfield Senior; 26. Mason Jacobus, Madison; 31. Canada Wentz, Ontario

200 Individual Medley: 7. Ivan Prykhodko, Lexington; 9. Trey Nickoli, Lexington; 11. Carson Smith, Ontario; 17. Owen Garver, Lexington; 20 Robbie Tommelleo, Lexington; 27. Hayden Hitchcock, Ashland; 31. Eli White, Madison

200 freestyle relay: 4. Ontario; 6. Lexington; 18. Shelby

400 freestyle relay: 1. ONTARIO 3:26.21; 2. Lexington 3:26.95; 21. Madison; 24. Ashland

200 medley relay: 6. Lexington; 16. Ashland; 22. Ontario; 24. Shelby

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Sectional swim meet produces plenty of district qualfiers