Sophomores Jono Hammond and Alex Nanda racing freestyle. Raaghuv Vazirani’22 competing in butterfly. (Julia DeVore’22/News)

On Sunday, February 14, the boy Aquavikes competed in sectionals at Columbus Academy to claim one of the 24 spots needed to advance to districts. They finished second out of the twelve teams, just 235 points behind Granville. However, the boys were not just racing against the other teams at CA. There were six other meets with swimmers battling for the same 24 spots in the Central, East, and Southeast District Meet.

The team of Alek Balaloski’23, Drake Bellisari’22, Cyrus Hannallah’22, and Gavin Lewis’23 opened the meet by taking second in the 200 medley relay, finishing with a final time of 1:45.54.

Bellisari nabbed gold in the 50 free, clocking in at 23.06. Lewis followed close behind, securing silver with a time of 23.24 seconds before finishing second in the 100 freestyle.

In the 200 freestyle relay, William Harpster’24, Rowan Hennessy’21, Cy Richardson’22, and Greyson Thomas’24 sprinted to fourth.

Harpster and Hannallah nabbed third and fourth, respectively, in the 200 IM. The pair returned in the 100 breaststroke to secure respective fourth and fifth places.

Richardson sprinted to a fifth in the 200 freestyle, with Jono Hammond’23 close behind at sixth. Hammond returned in the 500 freestyle to secure bronze with a time of 5:48.61.

In the 100 butterfly, Richardson raced to fifth, while Balaloski wrapped up the meet with a sixth place finish. 

Those who qualified will return on Thursday, February 18, for the district meet at Bowling Green University.