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New Bremen's Andy Jiang will look to return to the podium.
The goal for any area swimmer or diver is to make it onto the podium, meaning a top-eight finish in the state. Then once that is done, the next goal is to keep moving up.
New Bremen's Andy Jiang has reached the podium the last two seasons and is looking to cap off his career by moving up the podium again.
Celina's Jackson Newcomb came close to reaching the podium as a freshman and sophomore, and now will look to take that chance later this week at Branin Natatorium in Canton in the Division II swimming championships starting Thursday.
Jiang reached the podium last year, finishing sixth in the 200-yard individual medley and nearly did it a second time in placing ninth in the 100 butterfly after winning the B-Final to decide ninth through 16th place.
The Cardinal senior is back to compete in both events this year, with a good shot of making the top eight that reach the A-Final on Friday night. Jiang's district time of 1:53.84 in the IM is seventh-best among the 32-swimmer field. Jiang's 51.34 second performance in the 100 butterfly at district has him 10th on the psych sheet this year, but just 0.08 seconds away from eighth to reach the final.
Celina's Jackson Newcomb will look to reach the podium in two events at this week's Division II state swimming championships.
Newcomb is back at state in two new events after finishing 13th in the 50 freestyle and 14th in the 100 breaststroke last season. The Celina junior will compete in the 100 and 200 freestyles.
First up Thursday is the 200, the second event of the day. Newcomb's district time of 1:44.26 is eight-best on the psych sheet, just 0.09 seconds ahead of the ninth-best time. In the 100 freestyle, Newcomb is tied with St. Clairsville's Zach May for the eighth-fastest time at 47.07 seconds.
St. Marys is the other area boys team that is represented at state. The 200 freestyle medley team of Gavin Luebke, Andrew Monroe, Bradey Triplett and Kaleb Kleinschmit is currently 14th on the psych sheet with a time of 1:30.89, putting them in line for a B-Final berth.
Triplett will be especially busy on Thursday, having earned at-large spots in both the IM, where he has the 26th fastest time among district results at 2:01.68, and the 100 breaststroke, where he's tied with the 32nd fastest time at 1:01.31.
Luebke will join Newcomb in the 200 freestyle, where he is currently 31st on the psych sheet.
This morning, the diving competition will take place. Luke Hertenstein of St. Marys is making his third appearance at state. Last year, Hertenstein was 24th, missing the cut from 32 to 20 that go to the semifinals. The goal this season is to be able to reach the top 16 that reach the finals. Roughrider freshman Hayden Atkins is making his debut at state.
Last season, St. Marys qualified its 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays to state, but neither were able to make it out of the prelims.
Both relays made it back to Canton this season and will look to move up to the top 16 that reach Friday's finals.
Claire Turner and Piper Triplett return to swim both relays and will be joined in both by Ava Botkin and Nora Fischbach.
The 200 medley relay is seeded 17th with their district time of 1:53.96, just 0.05 seconds out of 15th.
The 200 freestyle will have a local feel as Minster and Coldwater will join the Roughriders in the event. St. Marys is seeded 18th based on district time (1:43.14). Minster, featuring the lineup of Carmen Holthaus, Audrey Meyer, Emma Heuker and Elise Oldiges, is seeded 23rd (1:44.46), one spot ahead of the Coldwater lineup of Kelly May, Keira Knapke, Claire Bertke and Averi Kahlig (1:44.55).
Coldwater's Kelly May will compete in one relay and the individual medley at the Division II state swimming championships starting Thursday.
Minster's Elise Oldiges will compete in two individual events and one relay at the state meet.
Oldiges will also be busy after qualifying for two individual events. Oldiges is seeded 13th (24.59) in the 50 freestyle with Bertke seeded 15th (24.77) and Turner seeded 25th (25.09). In the 100 breaststroke, Oldiges is seeded 18th (1:08.17) on the psych sheet with St. Henry junior Quinn Lefeld seeded 29th (1:09.67).
May will also compete in the individual medley and is seeded 26th (2:16.57) on the psych sheet.
Preliminary heats begin Thursday at 5 p.m. with the finals starting at 5 p.m. on Friday.
