On to Canton: swimming and diving send their best athletes to compete in the state championship

Megan Dorr, Sports Section Editor|February 24, 2022

Photo Courtesy of: Tammy Smith

Annalise Smith ‘23, SENIOR Phoebe Wright, SENIOR Ava Stallmeyer, and Angelina DiPaulo ‘24 pose with the second place trophy the WHHS girls swim and dive team won at the Southwest Ohio District championship.

The WHHS women’s swimming and diving team added onto their already historic season at the District Championship on Feb. 16 and 19 at the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center at Miami University. The girls finished second overall, behind St. Ursula Academy, in Southwest Ohio, which is their highest finish in school history.

The divers competed in Districts on Wed. Feb. 16 where they each had six dives off the one meter board. There were 32 divers who had qualified for Districts, and the top seven highest scorers at the meet qualified to advance to the State Championship.

SENIOR Bela Noble finished second, and Elleka Boeres ‘23, finished sixth, qualifying both of them for state. WHHS was the only school in the district that sent two divers to state.

After the divers built a lead for WHHS, the swimmers came to the pool ready to add on. The girls had three relays swimming, along with 18 individual events.

To qualify for the swimming state championship, the swimmers with the top 24 times from all four District meets across Ohio are taken. The Southwest district, which WHHS is part of, is typically the District that produces the most top times.

SENIOR Phoebe Wright was an instrumental part of the second place finish. Wright was the District champion in the 100 and 200 yard freestyle. Her times easily qualified her for the state championship, where she is the top seed in the 100 freestyle and the second seed in the 200.

Along with Wright, Sofia Matern ‘24, and SENIOR Ava Stallmeyer qualified in individual events. Matern qualified in the 200y individual medley and both her and Stallmeyer qualified in the 100y breaststroke.

Cam Craft ‘24 swam fast enough times at Districts to qualify him for two individual events at the Ohio Swimming and Diving State Championship. (Photo Courtesy of: Tammy Smith)

In the team relays, WHHS qualified two for state and all three finished in the top eight in the district. The team of Maturn, Stallmeyer, Wright, and Greta Lecrone ‘23, finished second in the 200 medley relay, qualifying them for states. In the 400 freestyle relay Maturn, Angelina DiPaolo ‘24, Stallmeyer, and Wright took third place and punched their ticket to state.

While the WHHS boys swimming and diving has not had as successful of a season as the girls, they are still sending a swimmer to state.

Cam Craft ‘24, qualified in the 50y freestyle and 100y freestyle. His sprint speed helped the boys 200 yard freestyle relay finish 26th in the state, just missing the cut to qualify for states.

The divers will compete for their shot at a state title on Thur. Feb. 24 and the swimmers will first compete on Fri. Feb. 25 in the preliminary competition. The top 14 times in each event will move on to swim on Sat. night, where a state champion will be crowned in each event and all three relays.