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The Barberton Magics are competing as an independent swimming team after six years in the Suburban League. On Wednesday, the Magics entertained Kent Roosevelt at Lake Anna YMCA.

BARBERTON, Ohio – After six years in the Suburban League, Barberton is going through its first full athletic cycle as an independent – and that includes boys and girls swimming.

As members of the SL, the Magics were provided six dual meets, of which three were home meets, and a conference championship meet.

That was a big chunk of opponents, so how difficult was it to write a swimming schedule?

“(Scheduling) swimming was relatively easy in comparison to football,” first-year Barberton athletic director Rob Culbertson said on Wednesday at Lake Anna YMCA prior to a home meet against Kent Roosevelt.

“When you are looking at a football schedule, you are trying to find Division I and II schools to play for the points. With the other sports, you don’t have to worry about computer points.”

There are a few sport specific leagues which exist and could provide an option if deemed necessary.

Kent Roosevelt is a member of the Portage Trail Conference Metro Division; however, the Rough Riders’ swim teams compete in the Northeast Aquatic Conference, along with Boardman, Canfield, GlenOak, Massillon Perry, Massillon Washington, Warren G. Harding and Wooster.

Diving can be a complicating factor when swim schedules are put together. The Suburban League for example does not score diving as a championship event. Many teams do not have divers and that often is dictated by the home pool and whether boards and a diving tank are available.

The OHSAA sponsors two divisions each for boys and girls swimming and diving. There are 301 Ohio high schools that field girls swim teams and 269 that field boys swim teams.

Does the fact that fewer schools sponsor swimming hinder scheduling?

“We are swimming against every division there is,” Culbertson said.  “We are always looking for competitive balance. We are looking for teams that we can swim against that will be good meets and make our kids work hard.

“We do want to want win, just like everybody else does. Don’t make any mistake about that. We like to win.”

Humble beginning

Cuyahoga Falls junior Andrew Appleby started swimming to offset health issues when he was a youngster.

According to his mother, Donna, Appleby had pneumonia nine times during childhood when she got him started swimming at age 8 to help his condition.

His first competitive race is memorable.

“I was alongside the pool ready to reach down and pull him out of the water,” she said. “I wasn’t sure he was going to make it.”

Now a state placer and a record-setting Northeast Ohio Conference champion, Appleby initiated Akron’s Make-A-Splash program to raise dollars to help disadvantaged children learn to swim.

He learned about a Make-A-Splash effort in Atlanta and developed a similar format for Akron.

Appleby was alarmed when he discovered the drowning rate for this population of children, and his program has garnered more $10,000 used in the purchase of suits, caps, goggles and equipment. He also solicited the aid of Firestone graduate and Olympic gold medalist Mark Gangloff to promote the swimming lessons.

Northeast Classic

Twelve swimming meet records were broken last Saturday at the eighth annual Northeast Classic staged at C.T. Branin Natatorium and Oliver J. Ocasek Natatorium.

SportsInk.com area swimmers claiming championships were: Hudson senior Jimmy Dagley (100-yard freestyle), Firestone junior Mark Belanger (100 backstroke), Walsh Jesuit junior Danielle Margheret (100 breaststroke), Firestone junior Katie Miller (200 freestyle, 100 backstroke) and the Firestone girls 400 free relay team of senior Jill Stoneburg, senior Emily O’Brien, sophomore Natalie O’Brien and Miller.

Margheret set a meet record (1:04.32), breaking a mark set in 2005. Miller also bettered the meet record in the 100 backstroke (55.35) established in 2008. The Falcons’ relay was clocked at 3:34.47 and broke a mark set by Granville (3:34.94) in prelims.

Barberton Invitational

Boys and girls teams scheduled to participate in this Saturday’s Barberton Invitational at the University of Akron’s Ocasek Natatorium are: Archbishop Hoban, Brunswick, Copley, Cuyahoga Falls, CVCA, Nordonia, Revere, Stow-Munroe Falls, Walsh Jesuit and the host Magics.