GALION — On Wednesday, December 18, the swim teams from Galion High School faced a difficult challenge as they welcomed the Lexington Minutemen to the Galion YMCA to compete in non-conference action.
Lexington, a perennial powerhouse in the pool, traveled to Galion and would sweep the Tigers as the Lex boys defeated Galion by a tally of 67-27 while Lady Lex downed the Lady Tigers by a final score of 70-24.
The Tigers would win just three total events on the day across both the boys and girls action, two of which came in the same event.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Troie Grubbs swam her way to the top-time in the field to earn first-place points in a time of 57.64. Ben Altstadt won the boys 100-free with his blistering time of 52.12. The Tigers’ other victory came later in the dual when Caleb Strack outlasted the field in the boys 100-yard backstroke, winning in 58.89.
Galion’s relay teams faired well on the day as the boys earned a pair of second-place finishes as well as two third-place points.
To start the day, the 200-yard medley relay group of Altstadt, Strack, Alec Dicus and Isaac Niedermier swam to a runner-up finish in a time of 1:51.61. That same foursome also picked up a third-place point in the final event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing in a time of 3:45.77. Galion’s boys would pick up both a second and a third place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay as Sam Albert, Grayson Willacker, Justin Lester and Nathan Barre nabbed a runner-up finish in 1:50.94. Teammates Kyler Ratcliff, Tanner Keinath, Chris Amick and William Mogan took third in the event in 1:57.19.
For the Lady Tigers, they would swim to three third-place finishes in the relay events, starting with the group of Julia Conner, Ally Staats, Caitlyn Karnes and Grubbs’ time of 2:13.21 in the medley relay. Grubbs teamed up with Adriana Zeger, Brooklyn O’Brien and Karnes to take third in the 200-free relay in 1:56.52. To wrap the day, Conner, Zeger, O’Brien and Staats snagged a point in the 400-free relay in 4:26.07.
Other placements for the Galion boys squad on the day against Lexington were: Barre- 200-free, 3rd and 100-yard breaststroke, 2nd; Altstadt- 200-yard individual medley, 3rd; Strack- 50-yard freestyle, 2nd; Dicus- 100-yard butterfly, 3rd and 500-yard freestyle, 3rd; Amick- 100-breast, 3rd.
Additional placers for the Lady Tigers in the defeat were: Conner- 200-free, 3rd and 100-back, 2nd; Karnes- 200-IM, 2nd and 100-fly, 3rd; Staats- 200-IM, 3rd and 500-free, 2nd; Grubbs- 50-free, 2nd; Zeger- 50-free, 3rd; O’Brien- 100-breast, 3rd.
Ten swimmers from Galion will be on hand at the Canton City Christmas Invite on Saturday, December 21, held at the C.T. Branin Natatorium. After a break for the holidays, the Tigers will be back in action as they head to Friendly House for a meet against the Madison Rams on Wednesday, January 8.
