Eight meet records fall as Dunbar sweeps regional swimming and diving championships
Paul Laurence Dunbar swept the boys’ and girls’ Region 8 Swimming and Diving Championships this past week in a two-day, snow-delayed event where eight region meet records were broken.
“I think somewhat being back to normal, having spectators, the environment was electric at our regional meet,” said Dunbar Coach Cole Pleasants. “There was some great competition, some great races, and the better the competition, the more fun the meet.”
This marked the 15th straight year Dunbar has won the coaches’ association combined region title, the 12th straight year it has topped the girls’ team standings and the third first place in a row for the boys’ team. The swim competition was held Sunday at Stivers Aquatic Center in Barbourville. The diving event finished Wednesday at Transylvania University’s William T. Young Center.
“We tied with them last year (in the boys’ standings), so we knew it was going to be another close one on the men’s side,” Pleasants said.
Dunbar’s boys’ team won seven events, including meet record-setting performances by Alex Ochsenbein in the 100-yard breaststroke (56.17 seconds) and its 200-yard freestyle relay team of Eli Merritt, Nathan Zhu, Ochsenbein and Seneca Oddo (1:25.02). Those wins helped the Bulldogs narrowly edge out Henry Clay 485-483 in the boys’ team standings.
Three other individual meet records fell: Lexington Catholic’s Christina Aouad set a new 200-yard individual medley time of 2:07.59, Henry Clay’s Jackson Millard broke the 500-yard freestyle record with a swim of 4:28.99 and Lafayette’s Megan Wedeking put up a new 100-yard backstroke best at :56.36.
Millard was also part of another relay record. He swam the anchor leg of Blue Devils’ 400-yard freestyle relay completed in 3:10.24 with Max Montgomery, Nick Johnson and Cole Bray. Lexington Catholic’s girls’ relay team of Kat Woodall, Libby Livesay, Christina Aouad and Caroline Beiting set a 200-yard medley record with a time of 1:45.71. And Lafayette’s girls’ relay team of Lili Elayi, Wedeking, Lou Elayi and Emma Lykins broke the 200-yard freestyle relay mark in 1:36.81.
Henry Clay finished second in the girls’ team standings and got a boost from Wednesday’s 1-meter dive where Mallory Sparks, Claire Nicholas and Mason Duncan finished first, second and third, respectively. Sparks’ winning score of 422.60 automatically puts her on the All-American qualifying list.
The top two finishers in each regional event across the state automatically qualify for the Kentucky High School Athletics Association’s Swimming and Diving State Championships to be held Feb. 18-19 at the University of Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatic Center. There will also be at-large qualifiers based on the next best 22 region times/scores statewide.
Region 8 Swimming and Diving Championships
Swim at Stivers Aquatic Center, Barbourville, Feb. 6. Dive at William T. Young Center, Lexington, Feb. 9.
Automatic state qualifiers listed. Complete results online at https://bit.ly/3BgdU8C
GIRLS’ RESULTS
Teams: 1. Paul Laurence Dunbar 435; 2. Lexington Catholic 348; 3. Lafayette 346; 4. Henry Clay 254; 5. Montgomery Co. 182; 6. Sayre 131; 7. Tates Creek 118; 8. Lexington Christian 89; 9. Great Crossing 85; 10. Frederick Douglass 76; 11. Clark Co. 55; 12. Bryan Station 53; 13. Scott Co. 35; 14. Bourbon Co. 13; 15. Mason Co. 10.
200-yard medley relay: 1. Lexington Catholic (Kat Woodall, Libby Livesay, Christina Aouad, Caroline Beiting), 1:45.71-x; 2. Dunbar (Nicole Nunez, Meher Saini, Emma Daman, Claire Ackerman), 1:50.07.
200-yard freestyle: 1. Emma Lykins, Lafayette, 1:54.18; 2. Amelia Jones, Dunbar, 1:57.63.
200-yard individual medley: 1. Christina Aouad, Lexington Catholic, 2:07.59-x; 2. Caroline Beiting, Lexington Catholic, 2:10.84.
50-yard freestyle: 1. Lili Elayi, Lafayette, :23.97, 2. Lou Elayi, Lafayette, :24.83.
1-meter diving: 1. Mallory Sparks, Henry Clay, 422.60-y; 2. Claire Nicholas, Henry Clay, 371.25.
100-yard butterfly: 1. Lili Elayi, Lafayette, :55.23; 2. Megan Wedeking, Lafayette, :57.11.
100-yard freestyle: 1. Emma Lykins, Lafayette, :52.42; 2. Kat Woodall, Lexington Catholic, :52.96.
500-yard freestyle: 1. Christina Aouad, Lexington Catholic, 5:03.38; 2. Ava Jones, Lexington Catholic, 5:13.04.
200-yard freestyle relay: 1. Lafayette (Lili Elayi, Megan Wedeking, Lou Elayi, Emma Lykins), 1:36.81-x; 2. Dunbar (Claire Ackerman, Emma Daman, Meher Saini, Katie Bridwell), 1:40.66.
100-yard backstroke: 1. Megan Wedeking, Lafayette, :56.36-x; 2. Zoe Schaeffer, Henry Clay, :57.54.
100-yard breaststroke: 1. Libby Livesay, Lexington Catholic, 1:04.35; 2. Lou Elayi, Lafayette, 1:05.27.
400-yard freestyle relay: 1. Lafayette (Elayi, Lili, Megan Wedeking, Lou Elayi, Emma Lykins), 3:31.01; 2. Lexington Catholic (Christian Aouad, Lillian Hosinski, Isabella Whitaker, Ava Jones), 3:39.44.
BOYS’ RESULTS
Teams: 1. Paul Laurence Dunbar 485; 2. Henry Clay 483; 3. Lexington Catholic 290.5; 4. Lafayette 195.5; 5. Bryan Station 153.5; 6. Tates Creek 137; 7. Frederick Douglass 114; 8. Montgomery Co. 89; 9. Sayre 86; 10. Scott Co. 85.5; 11. Mason Co. 33; 12. Clark Co. 31; 13. Great Crossing 17; 14. Bourbon Co. 7; 15. Lexington Christian 2.
200-yard medley relay: 1. Dunbar (Mark Dattilio, Alex Ochsenbein, Nathan Zhu, Seneca Oddo), 1:33.86; 2. Henry Clay (Jackson Millard, Eli Greinke, Jack Johnson, Landon Jennings), 1:34.69.
200-yard freestyle: 1. Alex Ochsenbein, Dunbar, 1:43.08; 2. Max Montgomery, Henry Clay, 1:46.13.
200-yard individual medley: 1. Jackson Millard, Henry Clay, 1:49.58; 2. Andrew Menke, Lexington Catholic, 1:57.82.
50-yard freestyle: 1. Seneca Oddo, Dunbar, :21.00; 2. Landon Jennings, Henry Clay, :21.47.
1-meter diving: 1. Meier Patrick, Montgomery Co. , 447.60-y; 2. Tyler Bryan, Great Crossing, 347.90.
100-yard butterfly: 1. Nathan Zhu, Dunbar, :50.43; 2. Kole Brannock, Scott Co., :51.16.
100-yard freestyle: 1. Seneca Oddo, Dunbar, :46.75; 2. Landon Jennings, Henry Clay, :47.73
500-yard freestyle: 1. Jackson Millard, Henry Clay, 4:28.99-x; 2. Jack Johnson, Henry Clay, 4:49.00.
200-yard freestyle relay: 1. Dunbar (Eli Merritt, Nathan Zhu, Alex Ochsenbein, Seneca Oddo), 1:25.02-x; 2. Henry Clay (Eli Greinke, Cole Bray, Max Montgomery, Landon Jennings), 1:26.21.
100-yard backstroke: 1. Andrew Menke, Lexington Catholic, :51.93; 2. Kole Brannock, Scott Co., 52.86.
100-yard breaststroke: 1. Alex Ochsenbein, Dunbar, :56.17-x; 2. Graham Miniard, Lexington Catholic, :59.81.
400-yard freestyle relay: 1. Henry Clay (Max Montgomery, Nick Johnson, Cole Bray, Jackson Millard), 3:10.24-x. 2. Dunbar (Eli Merritt, Blake Sammons, Mark Dattilio, Jared Brown), 3:16.27.
x-Region meet record; y-Automatic All-American qualifying score (National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association).
State meet information: https://bit.ly/3uBXtlD.
