Firestone's Quernemoen, Nordonia's Kaminski, Hoban's Jackson ready for district swim meets

The top high school swimmers in Ohio are closing in on the state championship meets later this month in Canton.

To get to C.T. Branin Natatorium, swimmers need to post fast times in the district meets this weekend.

There are several swimmers in Summit County with state meet experience who are looking to advance once again this season.

Firestone senior Julia Quernemoen is one of them.

Quernemoen, a Colgate recruit, is entered in four events in Saturday's Division I district meet that starts at noon at Cleveland State University's Busbey Natatorium.

Quernemoen won a Division I sectional title last Saturday in the girls 200 medley relay in a time of 1:52.96 with senior Audrey Sevald, sophomore Sarah Schueler and senior Eva Nixon at the University of Akron's Ocasek Natatorium.

"Julia is an extremely hard worker," Firestone coach Cindy Dial said. "She really turned the corner this year and stopped second guessing herself in a lot of the training. [Saturday] was maybe not the best performance, but without Julia, Audrey, Sarah and Eva resting or putting on a fast suit, our goal is for the next two weekends. They have transitioned into their fine-tuning phase, which some people want to call taper, but I look at it as more fine-tuning. It will be a different ballgame at the district meet."

Quernemoen, 17, is top five in her senior class at Firestone with a 4.4 GPA and said she plans to major in economics at Colgate. She was also second in the 200 freestyle, second in the 500 freestyle and was on Firestone's third-place 400 freestyle relay at the sectional meet.

"We are tapering a little later this year," Quernemoen said. "I would be worried if I knew the results weren't going to come, but I know they are coming and I trust Cindy's training.

"... It is probably not until district or state that I will realize, 'OK, this is my last one.' It has been a fun year. Our team is little this year, but I think that means we are more tight and closer together. I like that. I appreciate that."

Hailey Kaminski, Emily Yorkievitz and Noah Beaver lead Nordonia into OHSAA Division I district meet

Nordonia will compete in the Division I district meet in Cleveland with talented juniors Hailey Kaminski, Emily Yorkievitz and Noah Beaver.

Kaminski won three sectional titles at Akron, placing first in the 50 freestyle in 24.28 seconds, the 200 freestyle relay in 1:41.89 and the 100 backstroke in 58.92 seconds.

"This was probably the best I have been at a sectional meet," Kaminski said. "My 100 back is my best time other than district last year. I am very happy with that, and hoping to drop at district. My 50 free, that was my first drop in a year so I am obviously super happy about that. ... I am loving the team energy."

Yorkievitz, sophomore Abigail Pohlmeyer and junior Payton Pelkowski joined Kaminski on the first-place 200 freestyle relay. Nordonia's 400 freestyle relay finished second in 3:45.22 with Yorkievitz, Pohlmeyer, senior Arijana Smajlovic and Kaminski.

"They come in with high expectations, both of them, not just for themselves, but the team as a whole," Nordonia coach Glenn Yorkievitz said of his daughter and Kaminski. "They really want to lead the team as a whole to make everybody better, which is really nice. You don't always get that. Now we are in fast February and there is a lot of pressure on them. They are starting to feel that a little bit, but they have been working hard all year and they are excited right now.

"If I have done my job, they should have some good times in the district meet and hopefully move onto the next level."

Emily Yorkievitz heads into the district meet in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free relay and 400 free relay.

"It has been really exciting competing this year," Emily Yorkievitz said. "For the past few years, I have kind of struggled to drop through sectional and district. ... Coming into the sectional, I tried something new with the 50 and 100. I gained a little bit, so I think I am in a good spot."

Beaver won the boys 100 butterfly at Akron in 54.92 seconds.

"Noah Beaver is the brainiac on the team," Glenn Yorkievitz said. "He is really focused on technique, stroke count and pays attention to all of the times. He is right where we want him. We are hoping to get him down to a 52 at the district and then see what happens after that."

The Division I district girls meet will also include two Hudson juniors who won Akron individual sectional titles — Ava Sawicki (1:54.33 in 200 freestyle, 52.83 in 100 freestyle) and Sara Baylor (2:11.63 in 200 individual medley).

The Division I district boys meet will also feature Akron individual sectional champions Hudson junior Ivan Reber (1:48.55 in 200 freestyle, 4:55.39 in 500 freestyle), Hudson senior Alex Gallagher (1:57.91 in 200 IM), Twinsburg senior Andrew Popovic (50.37 in 100 freestyle) and Walsh Jesuit junior Caleb Smesko (53.50 in 100 backstroke).

OHSAA Division II district meet features Copley's Luke Nagle and Hoban's Rylee Jackson

The Division II district meet starts at noon Friday at Cleveland State.

Copley junior Luke Nagle is a boys swimmer to watch in the district meet after winning the 200 freestyle (1:50.15) and 500 freestyle (4:56.25) at the sectional meet in Akron.

Archbishop Hoban sophomore Rylee Jackson is a girls swimmer to watch in the district meet after placing first in the 50 freestyle (24.23) and 100 freestyle (53.33) in the sectional meet at Akron.

Jackson was also on Hoban's two second-place relays with senior Isabella Listerman, senior Leah Dragmen and sophomore Sarah Cook. The Knights were second in the 200 freestyle in 1:45.89 and the 400 freestyle in 3:55.77.

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Firestone, Nordonia, Copley, Hoban swimmers ready for district meets