DII Central/Southeast District Swimming: Athens & Chillicothe Boys with Top Ten Finishes

Presented by Chillicothe VAMC

Columbus School for Girls (314.5) and Columbus Academy Boys (300) were the team winners at the DII District Swimming Tournament at Ohio State’s McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion Thursday.

Southeast District teams found their way into the top ten. Athens (206) placed second and Chillicothe (83) 10th among the Boys teams. Fairfield Christian Academy (86) placed 9th in the Girls tournament.

Grace Barnhart (Sr.) from Fairfield Christian Academy won the Girls 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:57.38 as District Champion for the event. She also placed third in the 500 Freestyle and was part of the 200 Free Relay team that finished 6th and the 200 Medley Relay team that placed 8th. Logan Elm’s Lindsay Bright (Fr.) placed second in the Girls 500 Freestyle, which automatically qualified her for the State Tournament.

Chillicothe had swimmers reach the podium. Individually, Jake Byrd (Jr.) placed 5th in both the 200 and 500 Freestyle events while Ryan Blum (So.) paced 5th in the 100 Butterfly. Both teamed with Michael Lapurga (Sr.) and Andrew Fowler (Jr.) to place 6th in the 200 Medley Relay. The Athens 400 Freestyle Relay team of Kenny Fridrich (So.), Caleb Huebner (Sr.), Campbell Hauschild (Sr.) and Cole Huebner (Sr.) qualified for State with a second place finish. The same boys reached the podium with a fourth place finish in the 200 Free Relay.

Now the waiting is underway for qualifying for next week’s State Tournament at OSU for many of the swimmers. According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association, the top two in each event will advance to the State Tournament.  The remaining field of state tournament qualifiers will be at-large qualifiers and advance based on time from all District Tournaments statewide.

Other Southeast District team finishers for the Boys results include Marietta (12th), Warren (18th) and Adena (28th). Among the Girls teams, Logan Elm (16th), Athens (21st), Wheelersburg (25th), Fairfield Union (27th), Portsmouth Notre Dame (31st).

The DI District will be held Saturday.

The State Tournament begins Thursday February 24th-Saturday February 26th in Canton.