Luke L. (academyvikings Instagram)
Academy’s swim teams competed at the annual Central Buckeye League Invitational against six other DII schools from central Ohio on Saturday, January 24. The girls placed fourth, tallying 163 points, and the boys broke their 12-year winstreak by falling short with a second-place finish of 335 points against Bexley.
The meet opened with the 200 medley relays, with the squad of Emily R., Maddie E., Kayla R., and Nousha A. placing 2nd (2:04.02). The boys started strong, as Ethan L., William D., Justin L., and Boris K. won with a decisive 12-second margin (1:43.55).
Maddie, Kayla, and Emily then followed in the 200-freestyle, placing 1st (2:03.20), 4th (2:06.16), and 7th (2:20.61), respectively. For the boys, Ethan (1:51.95) and Luke L. (1:55.57) nabbed first and second in the boys heats, with Mason H. claiming 6th (2:11.29). Wystan C. dominated the 200 individual medley, swimming a 2:04.96 and winning by over 13 seconds.
Nousha claimed 4th in the 50-freestyle (28.45), while Justin, Boris, and Bradley E. swam 24.15, 24.38, and 26.79 for 2nd, 5th, and 13th, respectively. Wystan claimed his second individual win of the meet, swimming a 55.30 in the 100 Fly. Mason Followed in 4th with a 1:05.12.
Maddie and Nousha placed 1st (55.91) and 4th (1:02.85), respectively, in the 100-freestyle. William, Boris, and Max B. swam 50.28, 54.00, and 56.45 for 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Next came the 500-freestyle, as Kayla and Ethan outlasted their opponents, swimming a 5:40.76 and 4:59.20, respectively, to claim the win. Wystan, Boris, Max, and Luke continued the Academy sweep on relays, swimming a winning time of 1:37.41.
Emily placed 6th in the 100-backstroke (1:11.26). Luke and Justin finished one-two (56.98, 58.26) for the boys. Then came the 100-breaststroke, with Kate T. swimming a 1:34.23 for 8th place. For the boys, William led, finishing in 1:00.29, followed by Max in 2nd (1:09.49) and Bradley in 5th (1:12.53).
The meet wrapped up with the 400-freestyle relays, as Maddie, Emily, Nousha, and Kayla placed 2nd (3:59.63), while thesquad of Ethan, Wystan, Luke, and William completed the relay sweep, swimming a 3:31.65.
The girls finished 4th, tallying 163 total points. The bigger disappointment, however, came as the boys snapped their 12-year winning streak, falling short to Bexley by 9 points. Despite sweeping all three relays and every event besides the 50-freestyle, Academy lost due to a numbers game. On average, Academy had 1.5 entries per event, whereas Bexley had 4. Although our boys could win every event, more Bexley boys finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th and tallied more points in this way than 1st and 2nd, raising cries of “spam versus skill” throughout the pool deck. The lack of depth in the Academy roster compared to the large roster of Bexley’s. Although a harsh truth to end Academy’s 12-year winstreak for the league title, the boys superior performance will carry them through the postseason.
Both teams return to start the OHSAA states with their sectional meet on Saturday, February 7.
