On Friday, Feb. 20, 11 of Oak Hills’ swimmers competed hard at District finals, held at Miami University. These elite swimmers include seniors Colin Klaserner and August Foland, juniors Logan Meyer, Lydia Thibodeaux, Austin Haarmeyer, Corbin Hazlett, and Jett Sloan, a state qualifier, sophomores Lily Foland, Abby Huber, Kaylie Gantzer, and freshman Brennen Mumford.
After being plagued by sickness, the team was questioning its ability to qualify for the State meet. Members kept dropping like flies, and State was becoming a long shot. “Having been sick for almost the entire week and missing practice, I was concerned about how well I was going to swim at the meet,” Senior Colin Klaserner said. “Even during warmups, I felt more tired than usual”. Klaserner was part of two relays that qualified for Districts: the 400m freestyle and the 200m freestyle. Mumford, also a part of the 400 free relay with Sloan and Foland, was also feeling under the weather, and he was another crucial leg to the team.
Despite the team’s nervousness and sickness, each person had a unique, and overall very good, experience at Districts, with some of the players achieving a new personal best in their respective races.
Part of the 200m medley relay, Hazlett gave Districts his all. “I was excited and flowing with energy,” Hazlett said, “I swam as hard as I could, knowing that this was most likely my last swim of the year. Although my relay did not make it to the State meet, I was still very pleased with our results”.
“When I got up on the block to do my last race of Districts I was set on racing my best backed up with the support of the rest of my relay and when I finished, seeing my personal best time displayed on the big screen was a rush of excitement” says Haarmeyer, who competed in 200m relay 400m relay and achieved a personal best time.
Thibodeaux and Huber, along with Haarmeyer, also achieved a personal best time, leaving both sophomore swimmers with a sense of accomplishment and pride. “During the meet, I felt pretty calm because I only had to do one event, but as it got closer, I got a little more nervous. I noticed the other girls getting more quiet as well. After my event, I felt super accomplished and happy because I PRed,” says Thibodeaux, who finished with a 27.92 in the 200 free relay.
Huber felt the same nerves experienced by the team. “Before Districts, I felt nervous because I didn’t think I was going to do good because I was sick the prior week,” She relates. “As for my performance, I think I did good because I ended up PRing in both my events, but felt like I could’ve done better”.
For the seniors, this would be their last high school race. For Foland, the State meet has been a long-time goal, but this time he fell short. “I added a little bit of time in all my events and was very disappointed that I wouldn’t be going to State to swim,” he notes, “however, I also felt some joy reminiscing on memories I made throughout the season”. For Klaserner, being sick for the previous week stunted his results; he enjoyed competing one last time: “My times were a bit slower than usual, but I’m just glad I got the opportunity to swim at my last high school competition,” says
Klaserner.
Sloan, the only swimmer to make it to State, felt the team’s atmosphere and heightened spirits. “After the meet, I was pretty hyped because my times qualified for State, but I was wishing that a relay could have made it too”.
Despite their pride in Sloan qualifying for State individually, the whole team still felt disappointed knowing they could have done better. However, the team being more of a family than teammates, morale stayed high, proud of their efforts, and that they made it this far.
Other achievements include Meyer swimming a 22.81 split in the 200m free relay and a 25.45 split in the 200m medley. Additionally, Mumford swam a 1:53.41 in the 200-yard freestyle, 5:11.75 in the 500-yard freestyle, and 51.63 in the 400 free relay.
A rough meet for most, but overall a wonderful season. Times were higher than the athletes wanted, but so were their spirits. Not allowing each other to be let down by their times, they let their camaraderie define them instead. Sloan will be competing at the State finals on Friday at Ohio State University. Congratulations swimmers on a great season, and best of luck to Jett Sloan at the State meet!
