Tiger Sharks defeat Hillsboro in dual meet
The McClain boys and girls varsity swim teams opened the new season with impressive wins over South Central Ohio League and county foe Hillsboro Saturday in Greenfield.
The Lady Tiger Sharks took first place in every event except one while posting a 71-17 victory, and the McClain boys won all but two events in their 58-31 win.
Both coaches indicated after the meet that both boys and girls contests were much closer than the final scores would show.
“I have a lot of first-time swimmers who are just now learning what a varsity swim meet is like and what the level of competition will be,” Hillsboro head coach Joe Rhonemus said after the meet. “This is just our fourth year of varsity swimming, but we still had some kids that swam very well today.”
Despite McClain’s dominance in winning most of the events on the boys and girls side of the meet, almost every event was extremely competitive, and a couple were decided by photo finishes.
“We had some really competitive races today, and Joe (Rhonemus) has some good swimmers over there,” McClain boys head coach Bradley George said.
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On the girls side, the Lady Tiger Sharks swept every event except the 100-yard backstroke, which Hillsboro’s Izzy Bourne won with a time of 1:29.90.
Hillsboro’s Braden Wildey was the bright spot on the day for their boys teams when he posted first-place finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
“Braden (Wildey) won both the 50 and the 100 freestyle races today in a couple of real close finishes, and Izzy (Bourne) looked really good in winning the 100 backstroke,” Rhonemus said. “Overall, we had some great races today. The final scores do not show that, but the swimming does.
“This was probably the first time in our four seasons that I thought we competed well against McClain.”
McClain Lady Tiger Shark head coach Katie Dettwiller was also very impressed with all of her girls’ effort in their opening meet of the season.
“I’m very pleased with how well all of my girls swam and competed today,” Dettwiller said. “Overall, we took first in every event except one. I thought everyone really stepped up, and several had some personal-best times.
“I was really impressed with everyone’s effort, especially Kaylee Hurley, who broke the two-minute mark in her 100 backstroke event.”
Ethan Johnson led the McClain boys with victories in the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle, while Mallory Sims was a double winner for the Lady Tiger Sharks in the 200 and 500 freestyle events.
The other first-place finishers for the McClain girls were Veronica Olaker (200 individual medley), Anna Ehlers (50 freestyle), Emily Parker (100 freestyle), Lauren Fabin (100 butterfly) and Maria Onusko (100 breaststroke).
First-place finishers for the McClain boys were Tommy Henry (200 freestyle), Avery Voss (200 individual medley), Cody Mann (100 Butterfly) and Ryan Page (100 breaststroke).
The McClain boys and girls also took first place in all of the relay races in the meet.
“We had several boys, including a couple of our freshmen, step up and compete in some events that they had never swam in before,” George said. “I thought everyone did an outstanding job today, and I’m very impressed with all of the boys’ times. They have already set the bar high for the season.”