NORTH ROBINSON — Colonel Crawford looks to continue its history of swimming dominance.
Head coach Mike Holtzapfel is entering his 17th season as the Eagles’ coach and is joined again by assistant coach Mary Lyons, also in her 17th season at Crawford. Holtzapfel has more than 30 seasons of experience in coaching swimmers and that translates well year after year in North Robinson.
The girls team will take to the pools this season in a new conference, the North Central Ohio Swim League, after not been in a conference last season. Overall, the girls squad was 6-1 in dual meets last season, qualifying eight girls to districts and five girls to the state meet. The team lost a few key swimmers from last year, but returns some quality talent.
Swimmers lost to graduation include: Chloe Grove (state qualifier, All-Ohio), Callie Ruffener (state qualifier, All-Ohio), Trissa Schimpf (district qualifier), Megan Sharp (district qualifier), Cari Fogle, Kacey Gardner and Amber Gray.
Returning talent include: Madison Sharp (state qualifier, All-Ohio), Pierce Krassow (state qualifier, All-Ohio), Jillianne Gregg (state qualifier, All-Ohio), Kennedy Speck (district qualifier), Chloe Carman, Raye Hershey, Katie Jones, Dakota Quail and Taylor Price.
The boys squad will also be in the new conference this season and will start this season after a 6-1 dual record last year. The boys team also qualified eight swimmers to districts last season with two to the state meet.
Swimmers lost to graduation are Grant Pfeifer (state qualifier, All-Ohio), Jacob Roesch (district qualifier), Ryan Johnson (district qualifier) and Tim Fernandez.
Returning talent includes Jakeb Johnson (state qualifier, 100m breaststroke), Alex Hershey (district qualifier), Nic Motter (district qualifier), Ken Fernandez (district qualifier), Keton Pfeifer (district qualifier), Marcus Fagan, Nick Barnes, Andrew Johnson, Zach Leonhart and Antonio Wegener.
“The new North Central Ohio Swim League will have 11 teams,” Holtzapfel said. “There are many strong individual swimmers in the league. Team depth will play a part on all the league teams. Colonel Crawford hopes to be in contention for the team title.”
The season will kick off Nov. 28 when the Eagles host Upper Sandusky and Wynford.
