Celina girls cruise to another WBL title

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

After winning their first-ever Western Buckeye League title last season, the Celina girls' swimming and diving team wanted make a mark in defending its league title.

And did they leave a mark by winning 11 events, setting three league records and capturing a second straight title by a margin of over 100 points on Saturday in Defiance.

The Bulldog girls finished with a final score of 367, 122 points ahead of runner-up Ottawa-Glandorf and 186 points ahead of third-place Wapakoneta. St. Marys was sixth in the standings with 85 points.

Celina opened the day with a record-breaking showing in the 200-yard medley relay as Kenzie Conn, Claire Gass, Amanda Slechter and Kennedy Newell finished in 1:50.69. Conn and Gass would later added their names to additional records. Conn teamed with Zoe Rolfes, Emma Guggenbiller and McKenna Black to break the 200 freestyle relay record with a time of 1:42.02 and Gass took a solo record in breaking the 100 breaststroke record in 1:07.81.

Newell won two individual events on the day, winning the 200 freestyle and later added a gold in the 50 freestyle. Gass added a second individual win in taking the 200 individual medley. Conn won the 100 backstroke and Black was the winner in the 100 freestyle. Gass, Slechter, Newell and Rolfes capped off the dominating day with a win in the 400 freestyle by a margin of over 9.5 seconds.

On the boys' side, Celina sophomore Keaton McMurray added his name to the record book twice in collecting wins for the Bulldogs. McMurray set a new record in winning the boys' individual medley with a time of 1:59.17 and later came close to swimming a sub-one minute 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:00.30.

Shawnee won the boys' team title with a final score of 321 points. Wapakoneta was second, Ottawa-Glandorf took third and St. Marys placed fourth. Celina finished seventh.
Cavalier/MAC Invite

The Fort Recovery girls had a dominating performance in winning the unofficial MAC title on Saturday in the Cavalier/MAC Invitational hosted by Coldwater at Jay County High School in Portland, Indiana.

The Indians finished with 139 points with New Bremen edging Minster 112-107 for runner-up. Versailles, Coldwater, Marion Local and St. Henry rounded out the field.

Fort Recovery came away with seven first-place showings. Alexis Bubp was an individual winner in the individual medley and 100 butterfly. Cassy Martin placed first in the 50 free and 100 backstroke and Sophie Timmerman won the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. Alexis Bubp and Timmerman teamed with Paige Fortkamp and Ava Bubp to win the 200 free relay with Martin replacing Timmerman to help win the 400 free relay.

The Cardinals had two champions with Ashton Heitkamp, Taylor Paul, Rachel Kremer and Diana Heitkamp winning the 200 medley relay and Vivian Niekamp taking the diving. Coldwater's Macy May won the 200 freestyle and Minster's Kaitlynn Albers placed first in the 500 freestyle.

The Versailles boys won their team title with 151 1/2 points with Minster second at 117 1/2 points.New Bremen, Marion Local, Coldwater and Fort Recovery rounded out the leaderboard.

The Tigers won the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays to go with wins by Cole Condon in the 50 and 100 freestyles and Stuart Baltes in the 500 freestyle.

New Bremen's Ezra Ferguson captured titles in the 100 breaststroke and individual medley while Coldwater's Jack Bills won the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Cavalier teammate Isaac Osterfeld won the diving and Minster's Joseph Magoto won the 100 butterfly.

The swimming and diving postseason gets underway Feb. 7 with diving and on Feb. 10 with swimming. Fort Recovery and Coldwater swimmers will compete at Ayersville with the rest of the area teams traveling to the Lima YMCA.