Sports
Avon's Runge Finishes Fourth In State
Senior excels at 100 breast; Cvetic places 14th in diving.
senior Elliot Runge survived what some would consider a frustrating visit to the Ohio High School Athletic Association's 84th annual boys swimming and diving championships Friday at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.
Runge, who cut nearly four seconds from his seed time of 2 minutes, 2.34 seconds in the 200 individual medley out of the Division II district meet at Cleveland State, found himself in ninth place and just short of reaching the championship finals by .01 of a second.
With a 1:58.46, Runge fell short of the 1:58.45 of Brock Turner from Dayton Oakwood, who got the final spot in the championship finals. The difference came in each swimmer's freestyle where Turner had a 28.73 split for a .05 edge on Runge's 28.78.
Runge recovered for what was the eighth best time of the day in the consolation finals with a 1:59.50. His time was better than Henry Senkfor of Hawken, who had a 2:00.57 in the championship finals. Senkfor, however, still staked claim to eight since swimmers in the consolation finals can not pass up the eight swimmers in the championship finals.
The Avon standout had better fortune in the 100 breast where he finished fourth. After reaching the finals with a fifth-place finish in the prelims with a 59.34, Runge converted that into a fourth-place finish in the finals with a 59.16.
It turned out to be a record-breaking final where Andrew Malone of University School broke his own meet record twice in the same day. Malone, who set the Division II record in 2010 with a 56.83, swam a 55.71 in the prelims this year. He followed that win with yet another record performance in the final with a winning time of 55.54.
The Eagles also had Alaina Cvetic reach the state meet in diving. Cvetic, a senior, placed 14th with 319.80 points where 2010 state runner-up Natalie Ritter of Gahanna Columbus Academy moved up one spot to become champion with 454.80 points.
Cvetic was one of four West Shore Conference divers to reach the Division II state meet. The others were Alice Clark and Sara Fountain of Fairview, along with Bridget Keane of Bay.