Columbus North has swam against some of the state’s best teams in early-season dual meets this season.
But with Tuesday’s battle at crosstown rival Columbus East, the Bull Frogs were in no mood for a letdown. North picked up a 142-43 win in the boys meet and a 126-57 victory in the girls contest.
“I thought we did a good job,” North coach Logan Schaefer said. “Rivalry meets always encourage performance, and we did a good job of that. I loved watching the Frogs support their school spirit and swim really hard tonight.”
The Bull Frogs won all 12 boys events. Aidan McAlister took the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 57.14 seconds) and 500 freestyle (5:15.97), Daniel Utterback captured the 50 freestyle (22.68) and 100 butterfly (55.59) and Christopher Lee won the 100 freestyle (48.32) and 100 backstroke (54.69).
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Also for North, Tristen Cook won the 200 individual medley (2:13.21), Cole Wheeler took the diving competition (208.40) and David Fry captured the 100 breaststroke (1:07.21). The Bull Frogs swept the 200 medley (1:43.91), 200 freestyle (1:32.69) and 400 freestyle (3:41.92) relays.
“Team morale was as high as it’s ever been,” Lee said. “Our teamwork was really good. As a team, I know that a bunch of our freshman did their best times, which was awesome. Everyone just made me really proud to be a Bull Frog today.”
North’s girls were led by wins from Olivia Morlok in the 200 freestyle (2:02.92) and 500 freestyle (5:27.13), Erica Samuel in the 200 IM (2:15.06) and 100 breaststroke (1:09.29) and Betsy King in the 50 freestyle (24.58) and 100 freestyle (54.20). Naomy Argueta Ventura took the diving (151.30), Karlie Brown captured the 100 bufferfly (1:04.11) and the Bull Frogs won the 200 freestyle (1:44.36) and 400 freestyle (3:51.80) relays.
“Although I felt a little bit tight, I still pushed through it because that’s what you need to do in normal meets like these,” Samuel said. “Even though you sometimes have hard practices, you still need to push through in meets and do well for your team.”
The girls 100 backstroke ended in a tie for first place. North’s Adeline Rush and East’s Karissa Miller swam identical times of 1:05.15.
The Olympians also got a win from its 200 medley relay team of Jennifer Utterback, Marin Wieneke, Michaela Greathouse and Miller in 2:00.05.
“I’m real happy with everybody’s swims,” East girls coach Jill Arnholt said. “We came tonight to do our best and swim our hardest, and the girls did a great job. We had some really good races top to bottom. We had races where girls came in and finished hard and out-touched somebody, and those are things that we’ve been working on.”
The best finish for the East boys was a second from Chad Kelly in the 50 freestyle (23.45). The Olympians placed second in both the 200 freestyle (1:41.00) and 400 freestyle (3:43.23) relays.
“Our big goal was for the guys to have PRs, and we did have a lot of PRs,” East boys coach Dave Fribley said. “We weren’t going to beat them. We have two more meets this week, and we’re happy with where we’re at.”
