MANSFIELD — In their first dual-meet since they hosted the Lexington Minutemen back on Dec. 18, the swimmers from Galion High School headed to the Mansfield Friendly House to take on the Madison Rams on Wednesday.
Galion would prove that Tigers swim better than Rams as both the girls and the boys teams cruised to victories. The Lady Tigers swept every event en route to a 106-63 win while the boys won all but two events and won by a tally of 106-49.
The 200-yard medley relay group of Julia Conner, Kaisey Speck, Caitlyn Karnes and Troie Grubbs got the day started with their win in a time of 2:05.90. Later in the event, Conner with join Brooklyn O’Brien, Adriana Zeger and Nicole Thomas to win the 200-yard freestyle relay with the top-time of 2:01.76. Karnes, Kate Schieber, Ally Staats and Speck completed the sweep of the Lady Rams with their victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:36.57.
In the individual events, Grubbs, Staats and Speck all earned a pair of victories while Karnes and Conner helped their team complete the sweep on the individual side of things as well.
Grubbs swam her way to victory in both the 50-yard freestyle (26.04) and the 100-yard freestyle (56.70) while Staats claimed the top-spots in both the 200-yard individual medley (2:42.25) and the 500-yard freestyle (6:21.29). Speck led the pack in the 100-yard butterfly (1:05.54) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:13.38) to pace the Lady Tigers. Karnes kicked-off the individual events with her victory in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:25.19 while Conner took the crown in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:15.03.
Galion’s boys earned the top-spot in all but the 200-freestyle and the 100-back on the day against the hosting Rams.
Ben Altstadt, Alec Dicus and Nathan Barre earned all of the individual event victories on the day for the Tigers with each swimmer picking up two wins apiece.
Altstadt cruised to his pair of victories in the 50-free (24.21) and 100-free (54.39) while Dicus was the top swimmer in both the 100-fly (1:06.83) and the 500-free (5:39.38). Barre got his chance to shine against Madison, winning the 200-IM (2:32.21) and the 100-breast (1:16.94).
Altstadt, Barre and Dicus teamed up with Isaac Niedermier to begin the day with their victory in the 200-medley relay (1:57.87) before closing the meet with their win in the 400-free relay in 4:01.52. In the 200-free relay, Hayden Kaple, Grayson Willacker, Sam Albert and Jaxon Oehler swam to the victory with their time of 1:54.58.
Galion’s swimmers will be back in action today at the Marion YMCA for the 6th Annual Division II Public School Invitational, hosted by Mount Gilead. On Wednesday, January 15, the Tigers return to their home pool for a tri-meet with the Harding Presidents and the Wynford Royals as a final tune-up before Saturday’s Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championships, held at Ontario High School.
