MARION — On Saturday, January 5, the swim teams representing Galion and Colonel Crawford High Schools traveled to the W. Keith Davis Natatorium at the Marion YMCA to take part in the 5th Annual Division II Public Schools Multi-Team Meet, also known as the Mount Gilead Invite.
The Galion boys team would swim their way to a sweep of all events en route to earning the team title while the Lady Eagles earned the team championship on the girls side.
The Tigers finished with 403 points to best the runner-ups from Bexley (368). Colonel Crawford’s boys team finished third overall in the 10-team field, scoring 281.5 points. The Lady Eagles racked up 465.5 points to outlast the runner-up squad from Bexley (373.5) as well. Galion’s girls tallied 255 points to finish third.
Galion’s 200-yard medley relay team of Caleb Strack, Braxton Tate, Clay Karnes and Ben Alstadt got the winning started with a championship time of 1:47.46. The 200-yard freestyle relay grouping of Alstadt, Weston Rose, Karnes and Alec Dicus cruised to the victory in 1:38.24 before Dicus, Rose, Strack and Tate made a clean, relay sweep in the 400-free relay in 3:43.55.
In the individual events, Rose captured the 200-free title in 1:59.04 and was followed by Karnes’ victory in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.17. Karnes would earn his second win of the day later on in the 100-yard butterfly (58.12). Alstadt was also a double winner for Galion, pacing the field in the 50-free (23.30) and the 100-free (52.49). Dicus won the 500-free over Tate, finishing with a time of 5:20.60 while Tate swam his race in 5:31.15, good for second place. Tate would earn a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing with the top time of 1:11.58. In the 100-yard backstroke, Strack broke his own meet record with this year’s time, claiming the title in 58.84 to round out the wins for the Galion boys team.
Other Galion placements Saturday were: Dicus- 200-free, 2nd; Strack- 200-IM, 2nd; Chris Amick- 200-IM, 9th and 100-breast, 11th; Isaac Niedermier- 50-free, 5th and 100-free, 4th; Grayson Willacker- 50-free, 15th and 100-free, 13th; Rose- 100-free, 2nd and Kyler Ratcliff- 100-back, 12th.
Placements for the Colonel Crawford boys teams at the invite were: 200-medley relay, 3rd; 200-free relay, 3rd; 400-free relay, 5th; 200-free: Brandon Britt, 11th; Evan Price, 12th; Noah Thornton, 13th; Ethan Furr, 14th; 200-IM: Kyle Taylor, 3rd; 50-free: Keenan Wilson, 3rd; Keton Pfeifer, 7th; Kegan Shipman, 13th; 100-fly: Kevin Phillips, 6th; Andrew Johnson, 7th; 100-free: Shipman, 8th; Drake Evans, 14th; 100-back: Johnson, 7th; Phillips, 9th; Evans, 11th and 100-breast: Pfeifer, 5th; Zach Leonhart, 8th; Jacob Barnes, 10th; Caleb Christman, 15th.
For the Lady Eagles, they would claim two relay victories and a relay runner-up spot. In the two wins, the Crawford girls set new meet records.
The foursome of Cassidy Vogt, Drew Krassow, Jillianne Gregg and Katie Hanft set a new meet mark in the 200-medley relay, winning in 1:57.29. In the last event, the 400-free relay, Gregg, Emma Swisher, Hanft and Vogt set a second mark with a winning time of 3:59.83.
Vogt would also pick up an individual win, the only one for the championship squad, in the 50-free, outlasting the field with a time of 26.15. Gregg finished right behind her teammate with a time of 26.20.
Other Lady Eagles placements on Saturday were: 200-free: Hanft, 2nd; Jayden Ward, 4th; Madeline Keller, 8th; 200-IM: Swisher, 3rd; Allison Manko, 4th; Ella Pfeifer, 8th; 50-free: Krassow, 3rd; Hailey Ratliff, 9th; 100-fly: Keller, 2nd; Pfeifer, 8th; Alana Burkhart, 10th; 100-free: Vogt, 2nd; Gregg- 3rd; Bailey Dixon, 6th; Mikayla Williamson, 15th; 500-free: Hanft, 2nd; Ward, 3rd; Manko, 6th; Williamson, 15th; 100-back: Dixon, 9th; Burkhart, 12th; Maci Dicus, 13th and 100-breast: Krassow, 2nd; Swisher- 3rd; Ratliff, 5th; Cecelia Wurm, 9th.
For the Galion girls, they would claim two individual championships and one relay win, in which they would set a new meet record.
The 200-free relay squad of Troie Grubbs, Sari Conner, Kennedy Speck and Kaisey Speck now own the meet mark in the event after winning the title with a time of 1:48.54. Kennedy Speck was the champion in the 100-fly with a time of 1:08.82 while Kaisey claimed the victory in the 100-breast with a top time of 1:11.91.
Other placements for the Lady Tigers were: 200-medley relay, 2nd; 400-free relay, 6th; 200-free: Grubbs, 3rd; Conner, 5th; 200-IM: Kaisey Speck, 2nd; 50-free: Danielle Schneider, 16th; 100-free: Conner, 4th; 500-free: Kennedy Speck, 4th; Ashleigh Wright, 9th; Schneider, 13th and 100-back: Grubbs, 2nd; Wright, 10th.
