North Canton Hoover's state-meet crew from 2017 is in fine form at the Northeast Classic as the Viking girls win and the boys team takes second in a large field.
CANTON North Canton Hoover dropped a classic slogan on the Northeast Classic Saturday night.
Sporting T-shirts that read "The harder I work, the luckier I get," Hoover labored through the big midseason swim meet in Branin Natatorium just the way their head coach had hoped. The Vikings won the 36-team girls meet and placed second to Brecksville in the 30-team boys competition.
"They're working really hard in practice and still doing really fast times," said Rick Morrison, back this year as Hoover's pilot amid a career of nearly 50 years in coaching. "I'm excited about what we can do later in the year. We've got good kids and they're racing each other nose to nose every day in practice.
"That's fun to watch. Then they come to the meets and show off and start swimming fast."
On the boys side, Hoover senior Nathaniel Mullens is the defending state champion in the 50-yard freestyle, with a commitment to college powerhouse North Carolina State and a dream of reaching the Olympics.
"He's right on schedule," said Morrison, who spent decades as Hoover's head coach and was an assistant in recent years. "He's doing some workouts that I've never seen him do in the last four years. He's physically stronger, and he's taking his training to another level."
Mullens (20.82) and Hoover junior Vincent Stevens (21.81) placed 1-2 in the 50 free Saturday night.
"Right now, I'll take it," Mullens said, noting a mechanical glitch kept him from going about 20.6. "My training has been to the next level. I'm way more tired than I was last year, which is the plan. ... More tired, still producing fast times."
Mullens said experience tells him he swims the 50 about a second faster at the state meet than he does during the "tired period" when the Northeast Classic is swum.
If he chops a second off the time he put up Saturday, he will set a state record in the OHSAA finals.
The Northeast Classic gave many strong swimmers a chance to try their hand at strokes and races outside their specialties.
On the girls side, one of the highlights was a thrilling finish in the 200 freestyle. Hoover junior Parker Timken won in 1:53.12, Columbus Watterson junior Elizabeth Intihar placed second in 1:53.21 and Hoover senior Amanda Palutsis was third in 1:53.38.
The Hoover girls' main race during a standout 2017 season was the 50, in which Palutsis placed third and Timken fifth in the state finals. In the state finals of the 200 free, Hoover placed third with the quartet of Palutsis, Caroline Ehlers, Kate Lochridge and Timken.
"We swam some great times against some great people today," Morrison said. "We got great competition. We're here to race. While we do, we're working on the little things."
Saturday's girls 50 free, in which Palutsis and Timken did not compete, still was an example of the quality of the Northeast Classic. It was won in 23.46 seconds by Lancaster senior Olivia Schmelzer, who in last year's state meet placed fourth in 23.44. Hoover's Ehlers placed second in the 50, swimming slightly faster than she did in last year's state race.
"We're trying to swim fast, and we're a little tired (because of the training cycle)," Morrison said. "We are actually swimming really fast."
Hoover's girls won Saturday's 200 freestyle relay with the quartet of Palutsis, Reagan St. Clair, Caroline Ehlers and Timken in 1:36.60, well ahead of runner-up Hudson (1:40.25).
Hoover and Hudson also placed 1-2 in the boys 200 freestyle relay. Hoover's foursome of Stevens, Seth Brown, Karl Helmuth and Mullens went 1:26.47.
AROUND THE POOL
- Plenty of teams had rough sledding after a winter storm to get to the morning prelims. By way of example, schools placing between first-place Hoover and eighth-place GlenOak in the 200 freestyle relay finals traveled from Hudson, Columbus St. Charles, North Royalton, Brecksville, Columbus Watterson and Strongsville.
The parking lot was well plowed, and the crowd of spectators was fairly large. Teams hung around the county all day. Finals began at 6 p.m.
- A coach from the Mansfield area said U.S. 30 was "extremely treacherous" during the morning ride to Canton. A swimmer from Cleveland St. Ignatius said everyone on his team guessed the meet might be postponed.
"We left at 5:30 a.m," he said. "It took us about two hours to get here."
- Palutsis and Timken both tried their hand at the 100 butterfly, placing first (Palutsis in 56.41) and fourth (Timken in 57.55).
Hoover placed second in the girls 400 freestyle relay with the group of Timken, Ehlers, Lochridge and Palutsis. Hudson won in a meet-record 3:30.26. Hoover's time was 3:31.45.
- Hoover freshman Karl Helmuth placed second in the 100 breastsroke in 58.47, edged by Brecksville senior Jack Krusinski's 58.20.
- Alliance sophomore Will Rose, who placed second in the 50 and 100 freestyle races at last year's state meet, swam in morning prelims but left the finals because he was not feeling well.
- Brecksville set a Northeast Classic record in the 200 medley relay, going 1:34.63. The Bees used the same four swimmers who placed third in last year's state meet in 1:34.35.
Second place in the race went to the Hoover quartet of Christopher O'Connor, Karl Helmuth, Nathaniel Mullens and Vincent Stevens. Their time was 1:36.03.
- Brecksville senior David Madej was one of the top swimmers in the house. He won the boys backstroke in 50.16, which would have been the third-fastest time in the 2017 state finals.
Reach Steve at 330-580-8347 or
steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP