Claire Richardson’23 preparing to do a flip-turn. (Andrew Barren’22/Media editor)
On Wednesday, February 12, the Academy swim teams splashed into the district finals at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, with the women taking 3rd overall and the men finishing 6th.
The senior-heavy group of Annalise Grammel ‘20, Lauren Klinefelter ’22, Taylor Warren ’20, and Abby Yakam ’20 opened up the meet with a 3rd-place finish in the 200m relay, clocking in at 1:52.40 and giving the team 32 points.
The men followed up on this strong performance with a 9th-place standing in the same event: James Cao ’20, Cyrus Hannallah ’22, Ezra Johnson ’20, and Gavin Lewis ’23 finished in 1:47.70 and added 18 points to start things off.
Alexandra Butnariu ’22 and Emma Yakam ’22 were the first individuals for Academy to swim, with Butnariu hitting the wall in 1:59.94 for the 200-yard freestyle, worthy of 7th place and 12 points, and Yakam finishing in 23rd with a time of 2:10.80.
Gavin Lewis ’23 and Luke Boltz ’22 took the pool next for the same event: Lewis finished 13th with a time of 1:54.40, worth 4 points, and Boltz came in just a second later at 1:55.45, finishing 16th and earning one point.
For the women’s 200-yard IM, the sophomore duo of Lauren Klinefelter and Mary Kate Prall shined with respective 4th and 8th place finishes. Klinefelter swam a blazing 2:09.81 and added 15 points to Academy’s team total in the process, while Prall came in at 2:16.91, tacking on 11 more points. For the men’s side of this event, Rowan Hennessy ‘21 finished 24th in 2:23.09.
The 50-yard freestyle was a freshman-dominated event for the Vikings. Claire Richardson’23 finished 15th in the women’s side with a time of 26.47, and Alek Balaloski ’23 came in at 22nd for the men’s race with a split of 24.31.
The duo of Lauren Klinefelter ’22 and Whitney Hannallah ’20 came in strong for the next event at McCorkle, the 100-yard butterfly. Klinefelter finished 4th in a spectacular 57.34 and Hannallah followed in 15th with a time of 1:05.37. The two combined for 17 points.
Grammel, Warren, and Claire Richardson were next on deck for the Vikes in the 100-yard freestyle: Grammel finished 10th in 56.01, worth 7 points, Warren came in at 19th with a time of 58.21, and Richardson rounded the group out with her 24th-place finish and a time of 59.75.
Another trio followed on the men’s side: Cao, Lewis, and Ezra Johnson’20. Respectively, the three finished 5th, 13th, and 29th in a field of 30. Cao added a strong 14 points to the Viking total with his time of 50.59, and Lewis added on 4 points as well with his time of 51.90.
Butnariu was the sole Viking competitor in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, finishing 7th in 5:27.68 for a 12-point effort. Boltz and Cyrus Richardson’22 followed in the men’s race, with Boltz coming in 6th in 5:18.01 and Richardson in 10th, with a time of 5:26.31. The two combined for 20 total points.
After a break in relay action, the group of Butnariu, Grammel, Richardson and Emma Yakam took on the 200-yard freestyle relay, with a finals time of 1:45.99 worthy of 5th place and 28 points. The quartet of Balaloski, Hannallah, Hennessy, and Johnson followed with a 9th-place finish in 1:37.06, tacking on 18 points.
Prall was next in the pool for the Vikings, swimming the 100-yard backstroke in 1:01.50 for a 10th-place finish and another 7 points. Cao came in 11th on the men’s side, with a time of 59.32 seconds, earning 6 points.
For the 100-yard breaststroke, sophomore Emma Yakam impressed with a 7th-place finish in a time of 1:10.38, and Whitney Hannallah followed in 13th-place with a time of 1:12.54. The two combined for 16 points. On the men’s side, Cyrus Hannallah finished 20th with a time of 1:08.60.
For the culminating event of the night, the group of Butnariu, Grammel, Klinefelter ‘22, and Prall finished 3rd in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:41.64, worthy of 32 points.
On the men’s side, Boltz, Cao ’20, Lewis ’23, and Richardson came in 6th, with a time of 3:30.45, adding on another 26 points.
The girls finished in 3rd overall with a total of 195 points, and the boys finished 6th with a total of 111.
Those who qualified for the state meet will compete on February 20 and February 21 at Branin Natatorium in Canton.
