Area swimmers have big night in the pool

CELINA - The Celina boys' and girls' swim teams won the tri-meet with St. Marys and Coldwater on Saturday night at the Auglaize-Mercer YMCA.

The Bulldog boys, much heavier in numbers than their opponents, tallied 215 points. St. Marys finished second with 88 and Coldwater third with 71.

The score was slightly tighter in the girls' standings. Celina totaled 189 points, Coldwater was second with 146 and St. Marys third with 127.

"The boys look real strong right now," Celina coach Matt May said. "I'd say they have a good shot at making a state run again. The girls have a little work to do. They're a little bit behind where we were last year at this point. They've got to pick it up a little bit. Hopefully they continue to get better and the end of the season turns out good. We're not looking to peak right now. We're looking to peak at the end."
Boys

All in all, Celina had winners in eight boys' events.

Celina's Ian Darras won the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:07.28. Garrett Weininger was the champ in the 100-yard butterfly with a result of 1:00.76. Grant Guggenbiller held off fellow Bulldog Austin Haines to pick up the win in the 100 free. Guggenbiller swam a time of 55.62 seconds and Haines finished with a 55.83. Mason Baker also gave Celina a win in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:03.54.

Jake Browder and C.J. Kimmel, Celina's state-qualifying divers, went 1-2 in the diving. Browder posted a score of 198.60 compared with Kimmel's 161.75.

St. Marys' Caleb Westerfield was the champion in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:33.86. Westerfield's teammate, Riley Niekamp, dominated in the 100 breaststroke, winning with a time of 1:17.34, close to 15 seconds better than the second-place finisher.

Coldwater's Caleb Keck was a multiple-event winner. He was victorious in the 400 freestyle by more than a second with a time of 23.97 seconds. The second-place finisher was Celina's Austin Haines (25.06). Keck was also golden in the 500 free with a time of 5:54.29, edging St. Marys' Caleb Westerfield (5:55.19).

"Caleb Westerfield put himself in it and just got out-touched," first-year St. Marys coach Kate Szymczak said.

Coldwater coach Janelle Miller was impressed with Keck, per usual, and also added she was happy with the times across the board.

"All in all, I was happy with the times tonight," Miller said. "We definitely had some PRs. With this being a smaller meet and right after the holidays, it's good to see those PR times."

Celina's boys 200 medley relay group of Haines, Kyle Lochtefeld, Guggenbiller and Baker won with a time of 1:59.28. The Bulldog group of Weininger, Guggenbiller, Noah Shrock and Baker claimed the title in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:43.51. Darras, Matthew Rable, Haines and Lochtefeld also placed first in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:15.59.
Girls

Celina's Amanda Slechter won the 200 freestyle (2:16.14) and teammate Paige Duncan was golden in the 100 breaststroke (1:17.83). Celina also had the diving champ in Sawyer Weitzel, who finished with a score of 221.55 to earn nine points.

St. Marys' Sierra Braun claimed titles in the 200 individual medley title (2:31.28) and 100-yard butterfly (1:08.41).

Coach Syzmczak said she was proud of the progress that Braun and the rest of her team is making heading into the back end of the schedule.

"We've had six meets," Szymczak said, "and going in and out of illness, trying to find those relays that click together, trying to find that lineup that is going to get us some points that we need for league - we're doing a nice job. The kids are willing to take on all the events."

Coldwater's Mara Tobe (26.87 seconds) held off Celina's Cami Dzendzel (27.50) for the win in the 50 freestyle. In the 500 freestyle, though, Dzendzel got the better of Tobe, swimming a 6:21.68 for the title. Tobe, by comparison, finished second with a 6:50.25.

Also winning from Coldwater was Sue Nunes, who posted a time of 1:04.15 in the 100 free, and Courtney Bettinger, winner of the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:15.33.

The Celina girls won every relay except for one. The 200 medley relay team of Amanda Slechter, Paige Duncan, Sara Wenning and Dzendzel won in a time of 2:04.69. Dzendzel, Wenning and Sletcher were also members of the 200 freestyle team along with McKenna Black that was golden in a time of 1:52.43.

The Cavalier team of Bettinger, Grace Wendel, Tobe and Nunes got the better of Celina's team in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Cavalier group won by a large margin, posting a 4:17.64. Second-place Celina finished with a 4:32.43.