Avon Lake's Ethan O'Rourke and Morgan Srail Advance to Division I District Swim Championships

Avon Lake swim coach Rob Schmidt knows he has an inexperienced team.

"We are very young with freshmen and sophomores starting in a number of spots," admits Schmidt of his Shoremen and Shoregals, who placed seventh in both boys and girls competiton during the recent Southwestern Conference championship meet at Westlake.

But that young team will be represented on both the girls and boys side in the Cleveland State Division I district meet at the Robert Busbey Natatorium.

Junior Shoreman Ethan O'Rourke got an automatic bid in one event and an at-large bid in another at the Division I Lakewood sectional while senior Morgan Srail will advance after running away with the Division I sectional diving competition earlier last week at .

O'Rourke, who was the 500-yard free champion in the SWC meet a week earlier at , switched to the 100 free at the sectional and placed second with a time of 48.97 seconds, bested only by Strongsville senior Michael Meldon with a 47.66.

The Shoreman tanker, who was second in the 200 individual medley at the SWC meet, stayed with that event in the sectional and placed third with a 2:03.48. The only swimmers ahead of O'Rourke, who goes to the district with an at-large bid, were a pair from St. Ignatius, Derek Hren who won with a 2:02.35 and Davide Kloos who was second with a 2:03.35.

As a team at the Lakewood sectional, Avon Lake was ninth in the boys race with 24 points while the Shoregals were 11th with 70 points. Both the boys and girls sectional meets at Lakewood were claimed by Strongsville.