Avon boys, girls sweep titles at SWC swim meet

OBERLIN — Avon continued its dominance at Saturday's 45th annual Southwestern Conference swimming and diving championships at Oberlin College's Carr Pool. The Avon girls and boys teams matched winning strokes in their title defenses. The Avon girls amassed 422 points to outdistance second-place Berea-Midpark (277) for its sixth straight SWC title and eighth overall. The Avon boys totaled 416 points for its second consecutive SWC crown and third overall as it beat out second-place Avon Lake (304). The Avon girls won six of 12 events while adding seven second-place awards and three thirds, while the boys totally won 10 of 11 events. Junior Emma Molenaar won four events and senior Sierra Kobak won three events along with one second place finish. Kobak finishes her SWC career with 13 SWC championship meet victories, while Molenaar, who defended her meet titles in the 100 free (55.04) and 100 back (1:00.27), upped her SWC win total to 11. Molenaar and Kobak helped Avon win the 200 medley relay (1:53.04) and 200 free relay (1:44.14) for the seventh year in a row as they teamed with junior Leah Slivochka and sophomore Clare Blayney. "It feels great, especially since we know how much work we put in," Molenaar said. "We always get excited for conference. We get to see how much we put in and to see it pay off. I have met so many nice people from all around this conference. We really love competing against each other. It's definitely all friendly competition. There's nothing rude in this atmosphere. It's so refreshing. It pushes everyone to do better." Kobak won the 200 IM for the third year in a row with a winning time of 2:11.03 as she defeated Berea-Midpark senior Lilly Becker (2:18.49). Becker turned the tables on Kobak to win the 100 breast, but it took a meet-record effort to do it. Becker went 1:06.28 to break the 1999 meet record of 1:06.42 held by Rocky River's Josie Jedick. Kobak clocked 1:06.74 to finish second in the battle of 2025 Division I state qualifiers. "We do have quite a rivalry," Kobak said. "The tech swimsuits today made it a particularly big deal. It did help us a lot although we weren't tapered. I think when we do taper it's going to help us even more having that feel of a tech suit in the water. "The SWC meet is a great meet. There's no pressure because it's not a qualifying meet but it's still a big fun meet because we always like to win. Six wins in a row (SWC titles) means a lot. It shows our hard work. The coaches are definitely great. We all work together." Sophomore Luke Lundgard, along with seniors Tommy Lipowski and Gavin Bello, were the mainstays for the Avon boys. Each won four events. Lundgard won the 100 free in a meet-record time of 47.40, breaking the 2015 mark of 47.91 held by Brecksville's Dave Madej. He also dominated in winning the 100 back (54.20), winning by 3.78 seconds. Lundgard, Lipowski and Bello teamed with senior Sean Flanigan to win the 200 medley relay in a meet-record time of 1:39.95, breaking the 2014 mark of 1:40.95 held by Brecksville. The same four nearly had another meet record in winning the 400 free relay in a school-record time of 3:21.24. It just missed the 2014 record 3:20.38 set by Brecksville. "It's pretty exciting," Lundgard said. "I came in with the goal of breaking the meet record. I went way faster than I thought. That was pretty cool. The team was ready for today. Everybody was locked in. I'm very ready for the postseason." Lipowski dominated his two individual events. He won the 200 IM (2:05.76) by over 3.5 seconds over Berea-Midpark junior Jackson Kaylor (2:09.30). Lipowski later won the 100 breast (1:01.34) by over 1.5 seconds over Avon Lake senior Ian Fababe (1:02.87). "All four years we're always very excited to come to this meet," Lipowski said. "It's all about my teammates because half of my (career) SWC meet wins are relays. Just build the program around my teammates. It's been very fun. This is a highlight of my senior year. We'll get that (400 free relay) record at CSU (sectional meet, Feb. 14). Bello chalked up dominating wins in the 100 fly and 500 free. He clocked 54.75 in the 100 fly to win by over three seconds over Amherst junior Declan Mackowski (57.89). Two events later Bello clocked 5:04.98 to win the 500 free by over 11 seconds over Amherst freshman Ethan Fantozz (5:16.51). "I feel everybody did a lot better for this meet than they did last year," said Bello. "Times were better. Energy levels were better. It feels like everybody came together. Last week it felt like our energy levels were down but this week they seem to come right back up. I was a little bummed that we weren't swimming at CSU, but honestly no matter what pool everybody was going to swim fast." Lipowski finished high school swim career with nine SWC swim titles while Bello finishes up with six. Lundgard has eight SWC swim titles with the chance of breaking the all-time SWC record for career wins for boys of 13 held by Avon Lake's Brad Bartel who competed from 1997-2000. "We're just focused for the postseason," said Avon coach Adam Crabtree. "We trained very hard for most of the week. We had a team discussion Friday for about 15 minutes. You have to have those sometimes to get everybody excited and ready to go, get them ready for the postseason. I'm very pleased with the way we swam given what we did all week. It was a very outstanding meet for us. "Thursday was a normal practice. We lifted in the morning. Friday we had a team meeting for 15-20 minutes but we were still in the pool training for an hour and 45 minutes. We really didn't rest. We just got excited. We swam fast and just focused on the details. That's what we have to do this time of year." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. BoysTEAM SCORES: 1. Avon, 416; 2. Avon Lake, 304; 3. Berea-Midpark, 215; 4. Amherst, 128; 5. Olmsted Falls, 124; 6. North Ridgeville, 74 Final standings including dual meets1, Avon (5-0), 10; 2. Avon Lake (4-1), 8; 3. Berea (3-2), 6; 4. Tie - Olmsted Falls (2-3) and Amherst (1-4), 3; 5. North Ridgeville (0-5), 2 Meet results200 medley relay: 1. Avon A (Luke Lundgard, Tommy Lipowski, Gavin Bello, Sean Flanigan), 1:39.95 (MEET RECORD, old record 1:40.95 set in 2014 by Brecksville); 2. Amherst, 1:50.80; 3. Berea-Midpark, 1:51.20; 4. Avon B, 1:52.55; 5. Olmsted Falls, 1:52.99; 6. Avon Lake, 1:54.35200 free: 1. Ian Cibulskas (Avon), 1:53.57; 2. Jonah Franke (Avon Lake), 1:59.61; 3. Kyle Miller (Avon), 2:02.13; 4. Carney Garrett (Berea-Midpark), 2:07.11; 5. Luke Esmacher (Avon Lake), 2:08.35; 6. Sig Schroeder (Avon Lake), 2:10.03200 IM: 1. Lipowski (Avon), 2:05.76; 2. Jackson Kaylor (Berea-Midpark), 2:09.30; 3. Elliott Brooks (Avon), 2:12.38; 4. Ethan Fantozz (Amherst), 2:15.09; 5. Will Blayney (Avon), 2:15.09; 6. Johnny Habre (Berea-Midpark), 2:25.61 50 free: 1. Matthew Trimbitas (North Ridgeville), 22.41; 2. Sean Flanigan (Avon), 22.52; 3. Cibulskas (Avon), 22.96; 4. Ian Fababe (Avon Lake), 23.24; 5. Aidan Draeger (Avon Lake), 23.59; 6. AJ Lloyd (Avon Lake), 24.46100 fly: 1. Gavin Bello (Avon), 54.75; 2. Declan Mackowski (Amherst), 57.89; 3. Kris Childers (Avon), 1:02.67; 4. Landon Holmes (Olmsted Falls), 1:03.79; 5. Ryan Moody (Avon), 1:06.33; 6. Esmacher (Avon Lake), 1:07.05100 free: 1. Lundgard (Avon), 47.40 (MEET RECORD, old record 47.91 set in 2015 by Brecksville's Dave Madej); 2. Trimbitas (North Ridgeville), 50.22; 3. Colin Reitzel (Amherst), 50.55; 4. Brady Mackert (Olmsted Falls), 51.97; 5. Flanigan (Avon), 52.08; 6. Colin Draeger (Avon Lake), 52.91500 free: 1. Bello (Avon), 5:04.98; 2. Fantozz (Amherst), 5:16.51; 3. Franke (Avon Lake), 5:20.84; 4. Nate Brewer (Olmsted Falls), 5:40.12; 5. Lucas Bobula (Berea-Midpark), 5:43.23; 6. Garrett Carney (Berea-Midpark), 5:47.48200 free relay: 1. Avon (Flanigan, Childers, Brooks, Cibulskas), 1:34.25; 2. Avon Lake A, 1:35.65; 3. Olmsted Falls, 1:43.17; 4. Avon Lake B, 1:44.36; 5. North Ridgeville, 1:47.69; 6. Berea-Midpark, 1:51.43100 back: 1. Lundgard (Avon), 54.10; 2. Reitzel (Amherst), 57.88; 3. Mackert (Olmsted Falls), 58.93; 4. Lloyd (Avon Lake), 1:03.21; 5. Childers (Avon), 1:05.37; 6. Johnny Habre (Berea-Midpark), 1:06.62100 breast: 1. Lipowski (Avon), 1:01.34; 2. Fababe (Avon Lake), 1:02.87; 3. Collin Draeger (Avon Lake), 1:04.51; 4. Kaylor (Berea-Midpark), 1:04.52; 5. Brooks (Avon), 1:04.73; 6. Mackowski (Amherst), 1:06.58400 free relay: 1. Avon A (Bello, Cibulskas, Lipowski, Lundgard), 3:21.24; 2. Avon Lake A, 3:35.79; 3. Amherst, 3:39.27; 4. Avon B, 3:45.48; 5. Berea-Midpark, 3:47.32; 6. Avon Lake B, 3:54.53Diving: 1. Tavion Moore (Berea-Midpark), 302.45; 2. Luke Silva (Berea-Midpark), 299.55; 3. Joshua Kacenjar (Avon Lake), 281.20; 4. Elliot Barbeck (Berea-Midpark), 194.90 GirlsTEAM SCORES: 1. Avon, 422; 2. Berea-Midpark, 277; 3. Avon Lake, 249; 4. Amherst, 144; 5. Olmsted Falls, 95; 6. North Ridgeville, 72; 7. Elyria, 34; 8. Midview, 32 Final standings including dual meets1, Avon (7-0), 14; 2. Berea-Midpark (6-1), 12; 3. Avon Lake (4-2), 10; 4. Amherst (4-3), 8; 5. Olmsted Falls (3-4), 6; 5. 6. North Ridgeville (2-5), 4; 7. Elyria (1-6), 2; 8. Midview (0-7), 0 Meet results200 medley relay: 1. Avon A (Emma Molenaar, Sierra Kobak, Leah Slivochka, Clare Blayney), 1:53.04; 2. Berea-Midpark, 1:56.98; 3. Avon B, 2:00.72; 4. Avon Lake A, 2:03.63; 5. Amherst, 2:05.75; 6. Avon Lake B, 2:10.93200 free: 1. Aly Weber (Midview), 2:01.96; 2. Ashley Merical (Avon), 2:08.06; 3. Hannah Krane (Berea-Midpark), 2:09.56; 4. Sophie Fada (Elyria), 2:10.82; 5. Adelyn Lee (Avon Lake), 2:12.02; 6. Natalie Kurtzweil (Avon), 2:16.59200 IM: 1. Kobak (Avon), 2:11.03; 2. Lilly Becker (Berea-Midpark), 2:18.49; 3. Carlie Tysl (Avon Lake), 2:28.06; 4. Raelyn Laursen (Avon), 2:29.52; 5. Laura Youssef (Avon Lake), 2:35.68; 6. Abbey McConihe (Amherst), 2:36.04 50 free: 1. Auden Combs (Berea-Midpark), 25.49; 2. Slivochka (Avon), 25.56; 3. Kellie Riley (North Ridgeville), 25.81; 4. Blayney (Avon), 26.01; 5. Saralyn Miller (Avon), 27.01; 6. Linnea Quella (Berea-Midpark), 27.09100 fly: 1. Slivochka (Avon), 1:05.62; 2. Laursen (Avon), 1:07.45; 3. Aubrey Kozar (Avon Lake), 1:08.65; 4. Aby Wheeler (Berea-Midpark), 1:09.09; 5. Michele Smith (Avon), 1:09.45; 6. Youssef (Avon Lake), 1:10.33100 free: 1. Molenaar (Avon), 55.04; 2. Combs (Berea-Midpark), 57.12; 3. Blayney (Avon), 57.58; 4. Quella (Berea-Midpark), 58.97; 5. Molly Hoock (Avon Lake), 59.76; 6. Saralyn Miller (Avon), 1:01.37500 free: 1. Weber (Midview), 5:38.24; 2. Merical (Avon), 5:51.63; 3. Lee (Avon Lake), 5:53.59; 4. Fada (Elyria), 5:55.70; 5. Bridget Sonntag (Amherst), 5:55.71; 6. Natalie Kurtzweil (Avon), 6:01.80200 free relay: 1. Avon A (Molenaar, Kobak, Slivochka, Blayney), 1:44.14; 2. Amherst, 1:50.20; 3. Berea-Midpark, 1:53.01; 4. Avon B, 1:55.12; 5. Avon Lake, 1:55.35; 6. North Ridgeville, 1:55.73100 back: 1. Molenaar (Avon), 1:00.27; 2. Riley (North Ridgeville), 1:04.32; 3. Smith (Avon), 1:08.54; 4. Hannah Krane (Berea-Midpark), 1:08.85; 5. Sophie Millard (Amherst), 1:11.38; 6. Mia Moore (Avon), 1:12.32100 breast: 1. Becker (Berea-Midpark), 1:06.28 (MEET RECORD, old record 1:06.42 set in 1999 by Rocky River's Josie Jedick); 2. Kobak (Avon), 1:06.74; 3. Tysl (Avon Lake), 1:12.75; 4. Hoock (Avon Lake), 1:13.09; 5. Erin Reitzel (Amherst), 1:19.16; 6. Violet Riley (Avon Lake), 1:22.43400 free relay: 1. Berea-Midpark (Combs, Krane, Quella, Becker), 3:51.76; 2. Avon A, 3:58.44; 3. Amherst, 4:07.14; 4. Avon Lake, 4:09.80; 5. Avon B, 4:13.23; 6. Amherst, 4:56.27Diving: 1. Jenna Jolly (Berea-Midpark), 308.70; 2. Molly Flaherty (Avon), 300.35; 2. Lyla Grabowski (Avon Lake), 286.45; 4. Elizabeth Hock (Avon Lake), 258.05; 5. Kaitlyn Paytas (Avon), 249.80; 6. Caitlin Culler (Olmsted Falls), 226.75