Avon Lake Boys Finish Sixth At SWC Swim Championships

Despite tying for sixth place in the 30th Southwestern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at Westlake Recreation Center, the Avon Lake boys team got an outstanding performance out of junior Ethan O'Rourke, who was SWC champ in the 500-yard free and placed second in the 200 individual medley.

O'Rourke, who also was a member of the Avon Lake 200 free relay that finished fifth, won the 500 free with a time of 5 minutes, 6.12 seconds to edge senior Jack St. Marie of host Westlake, who had a 5:08.64.

It was nearly a double win day for O'Rourke, who was out-touched at the wall by in the 200 individual medley by Amherst senior Dominic Pecze, who won in 2:02.70 with O'Rourke right behind in 2:03.00.

On the girls' side, Avon Lake had a champion in diving when senior Morgan Srail won 509.75 points, well ahead of runner-up Sammie Sposet of Westlake, who finished at 413.00 in competition that took place on Friday.

For the Avon Lake boys, freshman Tyler Nock was fourth off the board with 311.05 points as Nate Renkel of Westlake won the boys diving with 391.30.

"We have a very young team," Avon Lake coach Robert Schmidt said. "This was the very first conference meet for many of them and it will help when they return for their second, third and fourth time."

The Avon Lake girls entered the meet off a 3-4 regular season while the Shoremen were 0-7 against SWC opponents.

Also scoring for the Shoremen was sophomore Trey Rhodes, who was seventh in the 100 back and 11th in the 100 fly. Rhodes swam a 1:04.27 in the back where Pecze of Amherst got the second of his two SWC titles with a 54.37.

In the 100 fly, Rhodes was in at 1:05.47 where Joe Craven of Westlake, another double winner, was first in 53.00. The other Shoreman points came with an 11th from sophomore Michael Callesen in the 200 free with a 2:05.01 as Westlake's St. Marie was first with a 1:53.63.

The best finish by a Shoreman relay came in the 400 free relay with Callesen, Ryan Kipple, Parsons and O'Rourke in at 3:38.66 where a 3:25.96 by Amherst was the winner.

In placing fifth in the 200 free relay, the Shoremen got a 1:40.00 with Callesen, Zach Collins, Mitch Eichler and O'Rourke in the water where it took a 1:34.66 by Westlake to win an SWC title.

Besides Srail, the best individual finish by a Shoregal came from Courtney Citro, who was sixth in the 100 back with a 1:09.06 where Lauren Choban of Westlake was the winner in 1:05.11.

Two Shoregals finished ninth in their events. Sophomore Maddie Woyansky in the 200 individual medley took ninth with a 2:31.69 as Amanda Paliska of Olmsted Falls, a double winner, won in 2:15.05.

In the 100 fly, Shoregal freshman Melissa Maiorca was ninth in 1:10.27 where Paliska of Olmsted Falls again was SWC champ with a 1:00.22.

The Shoregals had a 10-11 finish from a pair of freshmen in the 200 free with Jessica Lambert (2:13.74) and Sarah Mohr (2:14.34). Two other Avon Lake girls scored. Freshman Morgan Scott was 10th in the 100 breast with a 1:22.14 with Brecksville's Leandra Trudeau first in 1:10.35 and Woyansky 11th in the 500 free with a 6:03.14 with Megan Splain of Westlake the champ in 5:25.56.

The Avon Lake 200 medley relay and 200 free relay both finished 11th.

Next up for Avon Lake is the Division I sectional with the boys taking to the water at Lakewood High School on Friday evening and the girls in the same pool on Saturday afternoon.