'We knew that we had a pretty good chance': Roosevelt swimming snags sectional title
AKRON — A perfect regular season carried into Ocasek Natatorium, where the Roosevelt boys swim team won its first sectional championship in program history Friday afternoon, topping runner-up Rocky River by 19.5 points.
"We knew that we had a pretty good chance with a lot of our boys here coming into it," Rough Riders coach Corey Spicer said. "We know that we were having pretty good swims at the end of the season."
The hope is that the big accomplishments are just beginning for the Rough Riders, said Spicer.
"About half of our team is tapering and half is not, so next week is the big meet for a lot of our upper swimmers," Spicer said. "We're pretty excited to watch what they can do next week when they're fully rested and ready to go."
Freshman sensation Kadin Pyka was one of the swimmers Spicer had yet to taper heading into the Akron Sectional. Taper or no taper, Pyka still placed an impressive second in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.59), fourth in the 100 free (49.72) and was part of Roosevelt's championship 200 free (1:30.85) and 200 medley (1:40.74) relays.
"I'm not going to say he was rusty, but I'm going to say he was hurting and all that kind of stuff," Spicer said. "To see him finish races while he's still unrested, we're really excited to see what he can do next week while he's rested. I know he's got big aspirations for himself, and that helps drive him to all his goals. We set those at the beginning of the season and he's been on it the whole time."
Senior Drew Vecchio and juniors Jack Puhalla and Adam Springer — also part of those championship relays for the Rough Riders — added a number of individual top-10 finishes in qualifying for district. Puhalla and Springer were second (22.35) and fifth (22.49), respectively, in the 50 free. Springer tacked on a fourth-place finish in the 100 back (56.69) and Puhalla was sixth in the 100 fly (56.28). Vecchio added a sixth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.16) and a seventh-place finish in the 200 IM (2:11.40).
"They've been a big group for us the last two years," Spicer said. "Last year, they were a big, big portion of our relay that went to state for the medley and they were right on that cusp for individuals last year. This year, I think they kind of took that as an, 'OK, we can get real close again or make it out.' So they really had some big goals coming in and, again, they've been great leaders for these younger kids."
Roosevelt's 400 free relay of senior John Denning, juniors Ethan Bruner and Eli Hilton and sophomore Sam Amodio qualified for district with a ninth-place finish (3:41.77). Bruner and Denning also qualified in the 500 free — placing sixth (5:22.89) and seventh (5:26.70), respectively — with Bruner additionally qualifying in the 200 free (10th, 1:59.31) and freshman Max Froman advancing in the 100 breaststroke (10th, 1:05.26).
Aurora has plenty to celebrate
Greenmen swim coach Anthony Telerico was no less happy than Spicer Friday.
It didn't hurt that Aurora won the day's final event — the 400 freestyle relay. Junior Cameron Good and senior Xander Roy, who had massive days overall, gave the Greenmen a big lead in the relay that freshman Elijah Shim and senior Jaxson Rhea refused to relinquish.
"It was a wild finish," Telerico said, noting Rhea hadn't swam over the past several years and that Shim is, obviously, new to high school swimming.
The fact the Greenmen advanced all three of their relays — 200 medley and 200 and 400 free — made Telerico particularly happy.
"The medley, I was on the fence about," Telerico said. "I didn't have that much faith originally in that 200 free relay, but then we had some stellar performances, some people pulling 24s when they usually pull 25s to 26s, and we exceeded our season-best times in every single one of those events by [a] minimum four seconds."
In addition to leading those relays, Good won a sectional title in the 100 free (48.41) and was third in the 100 back (54.39) while Roy placed sixth in the 100 free (49.97) and eighth in the 100 back (58.44).
"He definitely showed up to win today," Telerico said. "Super, super happy with his performance over the sectional meet. I would say that he's now being given a run for his money by Xander, who's coming up close behind him on both of those events."
Rhea also advanced with a 13th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke.
Southeast advances several swimmers
The Pirates advanced three swimmers in the 100 backstroke alone, as freshmen Ashlynn Reynolds (10th, 1:07.86) and Olivia Farris (11th, 1:09.57) and senior Addison Reynolds (12th, 1:09.86) finished back-to-back-to-back.
The two freshmen also each advanced in another event, as Ashlynn Reynolds was fifth in the 500 free (5:58.52) and Farris finished sixth in the 200 free (2:14.53).
Junior Carson Letchworth was Southeast's lone boys qualifier, placing 14th in the 100 back (1:01.20).
Additional district qualifiers
In addition to all of the local swimmers who competed in Friday's Division II meet, the Aurora and Roosevelt girls competed in the Division I meet Saturday at the Ocasek Natatorium. Moreover, a number of local divers qualified based on regular-season results.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Theodore Roosevelt High School swimming snags sectional title
