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The 2012 Northeast Ohio Conference Swimming Championships are set for Saturday at Cleveland State's Busbey Natatorium. Coaches elected to move the championship to early January.
The 2012 Northeast Ohio Conference Swimming & Diving Championships are slated for this week.
After some intense training over the holidays, NOC teams welcome a big meet to get the second half of the season started with a bang.
“This is the fun part,” Hudson coach Matt Davis said. “We’ve got some great meets ahead of us.”
The diving competition will be completed tonight at Solon High School.
The swimming competition gets underway at 8:35 a.m. on Saturday (Jan. 7) at Cleveland State’s Busbey Natatorium. The finals are set for 6:05 p.m.
The NOC decided to move its championship meet from late in the season, prior to sectionals, to the first in week in January.
“You put everybody on a level playing field,” Davis said. “That’s how a lot of the coaches felt when we decided to move it. I think the placement of it is really good. After training hard over the holiday break, it’s good for the kids to have a big meet.
"If kids do well and they understand we're close to the end, then they get excited."
Six division championships are at stake. The NOC has realigned its swimming & diving divisions for this season.
The Valley Division is to include Hudson, Mayfield, Mentor, Solon and Strongsville.
The River Division has five SportsInk.com schools in Brunswick, Cuyahoga Falls, Medina, Stow-Munroe Falls and Twinsburg, plus North Royalton.
The Lake Division is to include Brush, Elyria, Lakewood, Normandy, Parma and Valley Forge.
With shave-and-taper strategies generally saved for the sectional-district push, Davis believes the NOC calendar enables teams to better focus on “getting kids to the district meet.”
He also said the NOC meet is half of the equation for determining overall conference champions and that Hudson has big dual meets still remaining against Solon and Strongsville.
“It is only half the puzzle,” Davis said.
Mayfield swept both River Division titles in 2011, as well Nordonia took both Lake Division crowns a year ago before moving to the Suburban League.
The Strongsville boys are the defending Valley champions. Hudson’s girls are the defending Valley champions as well.
“Our seniors and especially our captains have done a great job keeping our kids excited and motivated,” Davis said. “Our four captains have done a nice job of communicating with me.”
The Explorers staged an intra-squad dual meet on New Year’s Eve and Davis said the team wound up having a much more productive “practice” with a fun changeup.
Top seeds among SportsInk.com individuals are:
Hudson sophomore Paige Kelly (200-yard freestyle, 1:58.18) (500 freestyle, 5:12.56)
Hudson senior Jimmy Dagley (200 freestyle, 1:45.10) (100 backstroke, 52.38)
Cuyahoga Falls junior Andrew Appleby (200 IM, 1:58.94)
Hudson sophomore Alex Obendorf (1-meter diving, 489.20)
Hudson freshman Ross Palazzo (100 breaststroke, 59.84)
Second seeds among SportsInk.com individuals are:
Hudson senior Rachel Speakman (1-meter diving, 404.95)
Hudson junior Connie Gan (100 butterfly, 59.76)
Cuyahoga Falls senior Morgan Lydic (100 freestyle, 54.97)
Hudson freshman Ross Palazzo (200 IM, 2:02.28)
Cuyahoga Falls junior Andrew Appleby (100 butterfly, 54.12)
Stow-Munroe Falls sophomore Cody Vantrease (100 freestyle, 49.67)
Top seeded boys relay teams from the SportsInk.com coverage area are: the Hudson boys 200 medley (1:37.80), the Hudson boys 200 freestyle (1:29.36) and the Hudson girls 400 freestyle (3:40.22).
Diving info
Hudson sophomore Alex Obendorf is the prohibitive favorite to win the NOC 1-meter diving competition. A year ago, Obendorf placed fourth at the NOC meet, trailing only Solon senior Michael Kreft (519.95), North Royalton senior Troy Richert (494.75) and Nordonia freshman Stephen Romanik (445.70).
Romanik is now a sophomore at Nordonia; however, the Suburban League does not contest 1-meter diving as a dual meet or championship event. During a recent home meet against Kenston, Romanik posted a 6-dive score of 311.47.
Kreft, Richert, Obendorf and Romanik placed 1-2-3-5 at the OHSAA Division I state meet last season.
Fourth-place finisher Dylan Szegedi of Toledo St. Francis de Sales is now competing for NCAA Division II Wayne State University in Detroit.
Cloverleaf Stampede Invitational
Cloverleaf standout Addy Ferguson won the 100 backstroke (1:00.54) and 100 butterfly (1:00.07) at her team's own Stampede Invitational. CVCA senior Renee Ormond won the 500 free (5:32.05) and placed third in the 200 IM.
Green’s Hope Hickman had a big day at Wooster High School’s Shapiro Natatorium when she placed second in both the 100 back (1:05.88) and 200 IM (2:20.73). The Bulldogs’ 400 free relay also placed second with Hickman anchoring (4:01.12).
Archbishop Hoban junior Megan Kudlac placed second in the 500 free (5:32.78).
On the boys side, Cloverleaf coach Mike McGee reports that Adam Goodreau has been coming on strong in late December.
Goodreau won the Stampede 200 free (1:52.83) and has set team season-best times in four events in recent weeks.
CVCA’s Graham Burnell won the 100 fly (55.46) and Wadsworth senior Mike Pavlak did this thing, winning the 200 IM (2:03.97) and placing second in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.10) and anchoring the Grizzlies’ runner-up 200 free relay (1:37.09).
Hoban’s Logan Rogers was second in the 50 free (23.42).