Hoover senior Amanda Palutsis is "super excited" after her team wins the boys and girls portions of a dual meet against Jackson for the first time in her four years as a Viking.
JACKSON TWP. The swimmers in purple lined the deck while Jackson's seniors appeared one by one through a poolside door on the opposite side.
Nick Dye, who has seen more of that Jackson YMCA pool water than Ahab saw of the Atlantic, strode in flashing a captain's smile. He made a gesture that got everyone laughing.
An inside joke was announced: "Nick's favorite swim team memory is being unbeaten and being unbeatable in the cookie run."
Then the serious stuff started. Federal League foes Jackson and Hoover went at it in the annual best dual swim meet of the Stark County winter. It got hot and it got loud. Hoover's boys and girls teams both improved to 8-0 in dual meets with wins of 102-83 (boys) and 120-66 (girls).
"That's the first time we beat Jackson, boys and girls, in my four years at Hoover," said senior Amanda Palutsis. "That's super exciting."
Jackson is adjusting to a new head coach, Megan Burrows, after Matt Ziders stepped into an assistant principal job at the high school. She grew up around swimming (her father is longtime GlenOak coach Jeff Burrows) and was a senior swimmer at Jackson in 2008.
"I came in wanting to run it the way Coach Ziders did," said Burrows, whose teams are 6-2 (girls) and 7-1 (boys). "The season is going well. All six of our captains have stepped up and led us.
"A meet like this is a great experience. Everyone's cheering for each other. You can't hear a word."
It was a night of friendly competition and opportunity for the many athletes on both teams. A number of races were swum that did not count in the team scoring. Some of those were as intense as the races that counted.
Hoover is steaming toward the tournament with teams full of talented young swimmers and veterans who have done big things in state meets.
Hoover freshman Karl Helmuth, 14, is one of 71-year-old head coach Rick Morrison's up and comers. Morrison is a history buff, and the kid knows his history. He can tell you that Morrison set a state record in the breaststroke when he was a McKinley swimmer in the 1960s.
"I really like to hear what coach has to say," Helmuth said after winning the individual medley (later, he pulled away from Jackson's Dye to win the breaststroke). "Coach has seen a lot. He knows what works."
A highlight of the night was the breaking of assorted pool records. Those included:
- Girls 200 medley relay. Hoover's Kate Lochridge, Maya Lewis, Palutsis and Parker Timken swam a 1:49.68.
- Boys 200 medley relay. Hoover's Christopher O'Connor, Helmuth, William Schneider and Vince Stevens won in 1:38.81.
- Boys 50 freestyle. Defending state champion Nate Mullens of Hoover won in 21.36.
- Girls 200 freestyle relay. Palutsis, Lily Mullens, Caitlin Cronin and Timken delivered a 1:40.27.
- Boys 200 freestyle relay. Stevens, Seth Brown, Mack Lochridge and Mullens swam a 1:28.47, winning a thriller against Jackson's Sean Ream, Jason Tondra, Josh Fehlman and Ted Kinney (1:28.55).
- Girls 400 freestyle relay. Hoover's Regan Maxwell, Caroline Ehlers, Timken and Palutsis won in 3:45.56.
- Boys 400 freestyle. Hoover's Schneider, Brown, Helmuth and Mullens won in 3:15.49.
"The kids wanted to win this meet, and they put their whole hearts into it," Morrison said. "It's fun and exciting to watch them in practice and race that imaginary kid from Upper Arlington and St. X or Columbus School for Girls.
"This is a taste of what we have a few weeks ahead of us."
Mullens is something to see, as one might expect of a state champ. In the meet-ending 400 relay, Jackson had a slight lead after three legs, but everyone understood Mullens would pull away on the final leg. The meet ended with Morrison walking up the pool deck with Mullens, telling him, "There's some things we can work on."
Mullens got into a little race science, saying, "Yes, like breathing ..."
It was a serious conversation.
Reach Steve at 330-580-8347 or
steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP