competitive swimming excellence!
St. Charles' Marshall Sherman celebrates after the Cardinals' victory in the 200 freestyle relay.
Swimming
St. Charles' Nick Schuttinger, left, Andrew Birnbirch, right, and Marshall Sherman, left rear, celebrates the 400 free relay win.
The win for St. Charles ended Cincinnati St. Xavier's nine-year championship run. St. Xavier, which had also won 16 of the past 18 titles, finished second -- a spot occupied by St. Charles for the past two seasons. The Cardinals finished with 266 points, 20 better than St. Xavier.
"To be standing up there on the podium is amazing," Goodrich said. "When the time comes, it's hard to put into words."
St. Charles' surge started when Scott Martin swam the 100-yard freestyle in 45.79 seconds, second to Upper Arlington's Eric Huffman (45.23). That race gave St. Charles a temporary lead over St. Xavier, which had entered the second day of competition ahead 120-114.
The Cardinals got a boost later when senior Andrew Clancey won the consolation race in the 100 breaststroke. Clancey posted the 16th best time in preliminaries but shaved off more than two seconds in the consolation to earn nine points for the Cardinals. Alex Schaffer was sixth in the consolation to earn three points, and Erik Mai scored 13 points in the championship heat. In that event alone, St. Charles outscored St. Xavier 25-0.
"Our team was the only people that weren't surprised by the clutch performance by Andrew Clancey," Goodrich said. "He loves that pressure. That was huge."
St. Charles took the 200 freestyle relay in 1 minute, 23.25 seconds, behind Schaffer, Martin, Neil O' Kelly and Marshall Sherman. The Cardinals capped it with a win in the 400 freestyle relay behind Nick Schuttinger, Sherman, Andrew Birnbirch and Martin.
Upper Arlington's Huffman also won the 50 freestyle Friday. He said he was slowed in the preliminary round because of difficulty sleeping, but an afternoon nap was the cure.
"I don't know where that race came from, because I haven't gone 45 all season," Huffman said. "My best time was a second slower than that."
Kyle McNeilis of Dublin Scioto came up just short in the 500 freestyle, taking second to Brent Hitchcock of Springfield Catholic Central.
Upper Arlington finished fourth with 146 points. New Albany was sixth with 124.5.
Division I girls
Upper Arlington built on its strong opening night and rolled to an easy win in Division I.
The Golden Bears finished with a meet-record 449 points, easily outscoring Cincinnati Ursuline (222) to win their fourth straight championship. They also set another state and meet record with a time of 1:35.08 in the 200 freestyle relay.
The final event was the 400 relay, and it was doubly special for senior Katie Chin. She has never lost this event here, and she had an added bonus -- her freshman sister, Abby, was on the squad.
"One of my mom's dream goals was to have me and my sister do the same relay at the end of states," Katie Chin said.
Senior Lindsay Lash of Westerville North won the 100 backstroke in 55.29 seconds, and Watterson's Gracie Finnegan won the 100 freestyle in 50.72, her second title in the meet.
Ashley Specht of Olentangy Liberty defended her title in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.47.
Division II girls
Margo Geer set another state record in her first event of the night, swimming 50.3 seconds in the 100 freestyle. She topped her previous mark of 50.56 and the state-meet record of 51.16 set by Sarah Dorenkott of Gates Mills Hawken in 2004.
"I wanted to go faster, but that's fine," Geer said. "I was going for 49. I felt tight off the third wall, but it ended up not really affecting me."
New Albany's girls finished fifth. Molly Dengler and Jenna Young finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 500 freestyle.
Maddie Lawhorn, left, and Klare Williamson pose for a portrait shot at the Liberty Union gymnasium on Tuesday.
Lawhorn and Williamson will represent the Lions at the state swim meet in Canton this weekend. E-G photo by Shino Omura
Article published Feb 21, 2008
Lancaster Eagle Gazette
Pride of Lions
Pair of Liberty Union swimmers set lofty goals for this weekend's state swim meet
By SEAN GOLDEN
Sports Writer
spgolden@nncogannett.com
BALTIMORE - It's apparent to Liberty Union swim coach Brian Doner that his two state-qualifying swimmers have distinctly different styles.
But whatever their personalities are in the water, Klare Williamson and Maddie Lawhorn have success in common.
"Maddie swims angry. Klare just swims fast," Doner said. "(Williamson) is a great athlete."
Lawhorn will be working for a podium finish in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly. She placed second in both events at the district meet on Saturday.
After placing third in the 100 breaststroke at 2007's meet, Lawhorn dropped nearly four seconds from district to state qualifying, and will be seeded second in both her events.
"Maddie shows up for the big meets and continually drops time," Doner said. "The competition gets ratcheted up, and she does the same thing."
Lawhorn and Doner discussed the sophomore's chances of breaking the Central District record time in the 100 breaststroke before she swam in the event.
She did just that by swimming a 1:04.86 at the state qualifying meet in Athens on Saturday.
Lawhorn is aiming to not just win the event in Canton this weekend, but to break the state record time while doing so.
"I'm hoping to set the record with a 1:02," Lawhorn said. "I think it'll be a very close race, and I want to get first and give it all I've got to break the record."
It is Williamson's first trip to the state meet. She placed 20th in the 100 backstroke in Athens, and Doner said he expects her to drop time again this weekend.
The freshman shaved two seconds off her time between district and state qualifying.
"Her goal was to just make states, and she did," Doner said. "Her goal going into states is to make the finals."
"Klare's a phenomenal swimmer in her own right."
Williamson said that hitting the water eliminates most of the nerves she feels before a big race.
"I know before my races I get really nervous," Williamson said.
"Once I'm in the water, I guess I'm just determined. I know what time I want to get."
Doner said that the two swimmers offer plenty of encouragement to one another and seem to know what the other needs to hear.
"Maddie's one of the only people I care to have behind the blocks before I'm swimming," Williamson said.
Lawhorn said she is thrilled to have a teammate share the state meet experience this season after making the solo trip to Canton in 2007.
"Where she is this year is where I was last year," Lawhorn said. "It's really good to have someone there on my team."
Williamson said she has benefited from Lawhorn's experience and that her teammate knows the right kind of advice to give.
"Maddie knows a lot more about swimming than I do, she's been doing it longer and at a higher level of competition," Williamson said. "She's really good at helping me to know what to expect at the big meets."
Both the coach and his two state qualifiers said they get the sense that Liberty Union swimming is building toward bigger and better things.
With the team in its infancy, several Lions' swimmers just missed the cut for state qualifying this season- perhaps a sign of things to come.
"I think the best way to describe how we've grown is how the other coaches have noticed us," Doner said. "There's buzz on the deck about Liberty Union."
From the Columbus Dispatch
High schools swimming
New Albany's Dengler sets two district marks
Sunday, February 17, 2008 3:32 AM
Molly Dengler of New Albany set two Division II Central-East-Southeast District meet records and New Albany won the girls team title yesterday in the Ohio University Aquatic Center in Athens.
The top four finishers in each event advanced to the state meet in Canton this week.
Dengler, a junior, won the 200-yard individual medley in 2 minutes, 7.54 seconds and the 500 freestyle in 5:05.51. In both events, Dengler broke her own meet records from last year.
Dengler was one of three New Albany swimmers to qualify in the 500 freestyle. Sophomore Jenna Young finished second, followed by sophomore Tiffany Aeling of Hartley and New Albany freshman Suzanne Sliwowski.
Last year, Dengler placed third in the state in the 200 IM and sixth in the 500 free. She also is on the state-qualifying relay teams in the 200 and 400 freestyle.
Young won the 200 free in 1:56.84. She was fourth in the state last year.
Sophomore Margo Geer of Fairbanks also broke two of her own meet records, in the 100 free (51.17) and the 50 free (23.34).
Two freshmen posted the top scores in 1-meter diving. Natalie Ritter of Columbus Academy (420.25 points) outscored Maria Paskell (378.70) of CSG.
New Albany qualified at least one swimmer in seven of the 12 events and finished with 330 points.
Division I
Upper Arlington dominated with 618 points. The Golden Bears qualified at least one swimmer in every event and set six meet records.
Beth Loe of Upper Arlington set meet records in the 200 free and 500 free. She also was a member of the 400 free relay team that broke a record set five years ago by the Golden Bears.
click to view
High school roundup: St. Charles swimmers dominate district field
Saturday, February 16, 2008 3:09 AM
St. Charles won five events, including three relays, and the Cardinals had state qualifiers in nine of 11 events as they won the boys district swimming championship yesterday at Ohio University in Athens.
St. Charles had 524 points. Upper Arlington, which had state qualifiers in seven events, was second with 292. New Albany (234) was third with qualifiers in seven events, followed by Gahanna (133) and Dublin Scioto (121). Swimmers who finished in the top three of each event qualified for next week's state meet in Canton.
Jay Schuh, Erik Mai, Sandy Whitaker and Neil O'Kelly won the 200-yard medley relay (1 minute, 35.88 seconds) for St. Charles. The Cardinals' Alex Schaffer, Scott Martin, Sean Bresler and Andrew Birnbrich won the 200 freestyle relay (1:26.28) and Nick Schuttinger, Sam Kocker, Justin Shotwell and Marshall Sherman won the 400 free relay (3:12.83).
Mai won the 200 individual medley (1:55.42), edging Michael Lopresti of Columbus Academy by .01 of a second. Sherman won the 100 backstroke (51.19).
Dublin Scioto senior Kyle McNeilis and Upper Arlington junior Eric Huffman were double winners. McNeilis won the 200 free (1:40.22) and set a district record in the 500 free (4:32.53), winning the latter race by nearly five seconds. Huffman won the 50 free (20.88) and 100 free (46.21).
Tim Collins of New Albany won the 100 butterfly (50.02) by .03 over Martin, of St. Charles. Lopresti won the 100 breaststroke (57.70).
Connor Wright
GRANVILLE, SWIMMING
Wright,
a senior, won two events and swam on two winning relay teams to help
the Blue Aces win the Southeast Ohio Swimming Championship. He won the
100 free (50.08 seconds) and 200 free (1:51.4) and also swam on the 200
medley relay (1:45.26) and 400 free relay (3:28.18).
610 WTVN Athletes of the week for Girls swimming
St Charles Relay seeks National High School Record!
Relay team at
St. Charles aims for elite records
By Mike Price THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Goodrich, in his sixth year as coach, always knew the importance of team chemistry, but on a relay team?
It wasn’t until all four swimmers on the 200-yard freestyle relay team jotted down the same goal that he understood.
"I don’t think I realized it until this year how important chemistry is and that all four individuals need to be on the same page and want the same goal," Goodrich said.
The goal of the four senior swimmers: to break the high school national record of 1 minute, 22.70 seconds with a time of 1:22.50.
No doubt a lofty ambition, captain Scott Martin said he and his teammates don’t mean to be brash.
"We’re not saying that to everybody everywhere, but between us four, we know what the national and state records are," he said. "That’s really what we want to go after this year."
On Jan. 18, they set a school and pool record in a win at Upper Arlington with a time of 1:25.97. It’s the fastest time in the state and third fastest in the country, according to the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association. The state record is 1:23.20.
"Don’t get me wrong, if we win a state championship and we’re a 1:23.50, we’ll still be very happy," Goodrich said with a laugh.
The same four seniors — Martin, Alex Schaffer, Neil O’Kelly and Marshall Sherman — swam together on the 200 freestyle relay at the state tournament last year and finished second with a time of 1:26.04 behind Upper Arlington (1:25.63).
"We thought about losing to Upper Arlington a lot over the summer, and we came together and wanted to set a fast time," Schaffer said.
In a relay that demands perfection, strategies vary. Some prefer the relay order of fastest to slowest swimmer. Others like to have the fastest swimmer anchor the relay.
At St. Charles, depth is on its side.
"For us four, it doesn’t really matter what order we go. We’re all going to put up fast times because we’re all motivated to get the fastest time," said Sherman, who anchored the relay Jan. 18.
Beyond the order of swimmers, the relay exchange is vital, where 1 1
• 2 to two seconds can be gained or lost, Goodrich said.
That’s why the 200 relay team repeats the touch-andgo timing of the exchange after every practice.
"I always go faster on relays because I’m fired up to make sure I do my part on the relay," O’Kelly said.
As host of today’s Central Catholic League championships in the Dedger and Rose Jones Natatorium, the St. Charles relay swimmers want to set pool records in all three relays.
In the back of their minds, though, Feb. 23 is circled. That’s the date for the state final in the 200 freestyle relay in Canton.
"The fact that we broke our own team record and Upper Arlington’s pool record (1:26.91), that’s a big confidence boost that we can still break the state and national record," Sherman said.
mprice@dispatch.com
] Paulina Canini moved swiftly around the pool deck at Columbus Academy before practice Jan. 17. She was genuinely happy to be there. READ MORE
Colin Reardon was selected for the Ohio All Star Quad Team and represented Ohio at the Quad meet in Indianapolis. This meet had a total of 381 swimmers from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky competing against each other.
The Columbus Dispatch Athlete of the week announced Saturday Jan. 19th, 2008
Michael Lopresti, Columbus Academy
Michael Lopresti 
COLUMBUS ACADEMY, BOYS SWIMMING
Lopresti, a senior who has signed with Missouri, set a school record in winning the 100-yard breaststroke (58.55 seconds) and placed fourth in the 200 individual medley (1:59.09) at the Northeast Classic Swimming and Diving Invitational in Canton. Lopresti also won the 200 IM (2:04.97) and swam on two winning relays in a victory over Wellington and Hartley.
Selected representing each sport each week in the weekly wrap column:
Julianne McNamee
DUBLIN JEROME, GIRLS SWIMMING
McNamee, a junior, placed second in the 50-yard freestyle (24.54 seconds) and third in the 100
freestyle (54.00) at the Northeast Classic Swimming and Diving Invitational in Canton.
Karli Kentner 
WESTERVILLE CENTRAL, GIRLS SWIMMING
Kentner, a senior, won four events in a 94-91 loss to Dublin Coffman. Kentner broke a pool record in the 100-yard butterfly in 59.14 seconds, .01 of a second shy of the school record. She also won the 100 backstroke (1:02.21), swam the lead leg of the 200 freestyle relay (1:45.18) and anchored the 400 freestyle relay (3:51.09).
Brent Shearer
GAHANNA, BOYS SWIMMING
Shearer, a senior, won four events to help Gahanna defeat Bexley 111-59. Shearer won the 50-yard freestyle (22.20 seconds) and the 100 backstroke (56.40). He also swam the lead leg of the 200 medley relay (1:45.00) and anchored the 400 freestyle relay (3:35.37).
610TVN Athlete of the Week
Michael Lopresti, Columbus Academy, for Boys High School Swimming
Listen to the Podcast
- Erik Mai 610 TVN Mr High School Sports, Larry Larson's Athlete of the week for the week of December 6th Listen to the Podcast
- Marshall Sherman is the Columbus Dispatch Sports Athlete of the Week for performances from Nov 26 thruough December 2nd
Michael Lopresti signs National letter of intent to swim with the
Congratulations to Michael and the Lopresti family
Michael Lopresti's National Letter of intent signing ceremoney on 11/20. Michael is flanked by his mother Debra and father Rick. In back, from left, are Academy swimming coach Craig Yakscoe, New Albany Aquatics Club strength coach John Coffman and New Albany Aquatics Club coach Brad Burget.
Click for This Week in Gahanna and This Week in New Albany newspaper article about the signing
We want to congratulate Marshall and the entire Sherman
family on Marshall's recent verbal commitment to join his brother,
Mitchell ('05), on the swim team at the University
of Notre Dame.
Athlete of the week for girls swimming!
LIBERTY UNION, GIRLS SWIMMING
Lawhorn won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.86) and 100 butterfly (59.18) in the Division II district championships at Ohio University. Her time in the 100 breast set a meet record. Both times were the second fastest entering the state meet.
Scott was a key swimmer propelling St Charles to win the State HS swimming championship with his performances in the 100 Fly and 100 Free and the winning 200 and 400 Free Relays.
National Record Relay
Locals achieve national record
Thursday, March 20, 2008
DON DELCO
Enterprise Staff Writer
New Albany Aquatics Club coach Brad Burgett did not offer a long and complex answer on how he develops a medley relay. In fact, it is as simple a decision a coach can make.
"It's the four fastest kids," he said. "I'm lucky that I don't have the subjectiveness of soccer or football. You do the work, you go the fastest and you're in."
Brian Barrett (freestyle), Scott Martin (butterfly), Michael Lopresti (breaststroke) and Marshall Sherman (backstroke) not only were the four fastest New Albany Aquatics Club swimmers in their events, but as a 200-yard medley relay they were the fastest in the nation.
On March 2 at the Ohio Short Course Senior Championships in
"We were looking at the records posted online and felt this was within our reach," Lopresti said. "We practiced relay exchanges and were really set on getting this goal. We had really high hopes going into the meet."
Those hopes were tempered because the Senior Championships occurred a week
after the OHSAA state meet in
It is standard practice for the club swimmers to train 15 hours a week with
the New Albany Aquatics Club on Monday through Thursday. Beginning Friday, the
club swimmer would spend weekends with their high school team. Martin and
Sherman are seniors at
Burgett focused the training of his club swimmers to the OHSAA state meet. After logging numerous yards in the pool last December, the swimmers' training was slowed and rest was increased as the meets grew in importance. The theory behind that training is after pushing one's body to the limit, the swimming is slowed in between meets allowing for faster times in competition. All four of the New Albany Aquatics Club swimmers were fully tapered for the state meet.
"I was pretty tired for the Senior Championships," Barrett said.
"I was more tapered for the state meet. After that, I was pretty exhausted. It's tough to recover all the way down, sprint all weekend then get back to swim practice for a week."
Yet all four returned from
"You have to be consistent in your hard work and you also have to read the kids and keep them fresh and wanting to train," Burgett said. "There are a lot of temptations out there. Swimming is hard work and you have to keep them happy and work toward achieving something."
In the week leading to the meet, the doubts began as the wear and tear from a long winter began to surface.
"We were worried at some points," Barrett said. "Going though practice we didn't think we could make it. Everyone pulled together the night of the race and it happened."
Sherman (24.16 in back) and Lopresti (25.72 in breast) swam the first two legs of the 200 medley and were done in fewer than 50 seconds.
"We knew if we were under 50 seconds in the first 100 yards we were doing pretty well," Lopresti said. "Scott and Brian knew what they had to do and finished it strong."
Sherman and Barrett joined the New Albany Aquatics Club when they were 6 and 7 years old. For the past four years, Sherman, Barrett and Lopresti swam together in the club and this year they were joined by Martin.
"(Martin) was a great addition to the team," Lopresti said.
Martin posted 22.23 seconds in the fly and Barrett had a 20.6 in the free to complete the relay.
Despite the tired bodies during the week, the four did not feel any effects during the race.
"You are in the zone for the race and you're not tired anymore," Barrett said. "We had the attitude going into the race we could do it and we forgot about the exhaustion."
For now, these four are the fastest 200 medley relay team for ages 15-18. No matter how long their record lasts, knowing they accomplished the feat is satisfaction enough.
"The record we broke was 3 years old,"
Fourth-grader Nicholas Rushlow displays some of the words
he spelled
during the regional spelling bee.
From the Lancaster Eagle Gazzette
click for link to the video of Nicholas' amazing victory!
From This Week in Pickerington
March 27, 2008
MIRIAM L. SEGALOFF
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Fairfield Elementary School fourth-grader Nicholas Rushlow's first-place finish in the Farifield County Regional Spelling Bee earlier this month was e-p-o-c-h-a-l.
Rushlow, 10, will be one of the youngest participants in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee May 29 and 30 in Washington, D.C.
To win the opportunity, he had to beat 68 other area students in grades four through eight. It took six rounds to get down to the two finalists and another 17 rounds to name a winner. The winning word was epochal.
And while the March 15 bee was his first, the Pickerington resident said spelling bees have been heavy on his mind since the first grade.
"I have always wanted to do a spelling bee, ever since I heard about them," he said. "It just seemed like it would be something really fun to do. I used to beg my first grade teacher for them."
Nicholas said he prepared for about four weeks for the regional bee. He studied lists of words each morning and then spent another hour and a half to two hours going over them each evening with his mother.