Marlington girls swimming 'set up well' for OHSAA state meet after big finish at districts
CLEVELAND The Marlington Dukes swam to third place Friday in the OHSAA Division II district swimming championships at Cleveland State University.
Official spots at next weekend's state meet in Canton were not finalized, but Marlington is likely to be in a school-record number of races at C.T. Branin Natatorium. Friday's district meet in Busbey Natatorium included sectional qualifiers from 63 schools.
Marlington improved on a fourth-place finish in 2021.
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"The Dukes swam really well," head coach Jake Rehfus said. "Hawken and (Hathaway) Brown were the only teams to beat our girls. I'm really proud of how they've done. It's been a hard year. It's been a long year. To get third place with the way we swam sets us up really well for next week."
Marlington led off with a third place in the 200 medley relay with the foursome of Leah Guess, Claire Cox, Baila Bugara and Kylie Tolerton. Their 1:48.73 was a blink behind runner-up Hawken's 1:48.43.
The Dukes also placed third in the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay, chopping nine seconds off their sectional time with the group of Caitlyn Cox, Claire Cox, Guess and Bugara.
Claire Cox, a junior (Caitlyn, a freshman, is her sister), placed third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.89 and fourth in the 100 freestyle in 53.50.
Guess, a sophomore, placed third in the 100 backstroke with a lifetime best time. Her 58.93 edged fourth-place Alaina Pizarro of Hawken, who swam a 59.04. Guess also set a school record in the 100 butterfly, in which she placed seventh.
Caitlyn Cox and Bugara placed seventh and eighth in the 500 freestyle in times that have a chance at at-large state-meet berths.
The girls 200 freestyle relay (Megan Montgomery, Savanna Richards, Kylie Tolerton, Caitlyn Cox) placed seventh.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Marlington swim team has good day at Cleveland State district
