The Chagrin Valley Conference held its swimming and diving championships Jan. 17 and 18 at Hawken High School.
The Chagrin Valley Conference held its swimming and diving championships Jan. 17 and 18 at Hawken High School.
For the fourth year in a row, the Chagrin Falls Tigers boys won the conference championship, Chagrin Division, with a team total of 534 points. The Tigers finished with 108 points over Orange, who finished second with 426 points.
Also, for the first time in school history, the Tigers girls swim team won the conference championship, Chagrin Division. The Tigers girls won the championship with 407 points, edging out Orange by 29 points.
Afterwards,Tigers senior swimmer Gracie Ryan talked about the girls’ momentous school accomplishment.
“It’s definitely very special because for the first time ever, the girls are CVC Champs and everybody contributed a lot,” Ryan said. “I think we had a lot of great swims today and everybody put in their all and did a really good job at competing.”
Seniors Cam Mateyo and Nicholas Tropf also talked about their four-peat at the CVC championships.
“It feels incredible. It’s really a full team effort,” Mateyo said. “I feel so proud of everyone. I know that every boy that swam today gave their best effort.
“It wasn’t easy, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We needed to swim well and we did. I’m just really proud of our guys for doing what they needed to do, and being able to do it for four years is incredible.
“I’m just so happy to share this moment with my teammates.”
Added Tropf, “I’m so proud of our team and everyone who put forth the effort. Starting freshman year, winning it, and carrying it through all four years is huge for the team, huge for the school. Everyone should be celebrating right now.”
Tigers Head Coach John Reagan said that freshman swimmers played a big role in helping the girls team win the championship. In fact, freshman Claire Simon (1:15.35) took first place in the 100 Yard Breaststroke to earn First-Team CVC All- Conference honors.
“Our freshmen played a big part,” Reagan said. “Claire Simon is a freshman. Paige Morrison also took third and fourth for her events. That’s 31 massive points that we needed to win. We had 10 girls this year and five of them were new.
“They stepped up in pressure moments in an admirable way.”
In contrast to the girls team, the Tigers boys were led by five upperclassmen who earned First Team CVC All-Conference honors: Will Asplin, Wade Daugherty, Noah Publicover, Mateyo and Tropf.
The boys team won five individual events. Mateyo, a senior, finished first in the 200 IM and the 100 Yard Butterfly. In addition, Publicover won the 50 Yard Freestyle and the 100 Yard Freestyle, and Tropf won the 100 Yard Backstroke.
The boys team also won two relay events: the 200 Yard Medley Relay (Asplin, Mateyo, Publicover, Tropf) and the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (Daugherty, Mateyo, Publicover, Tropf).
Earning First Team CVC All-Conference Honors for the West Geauga Wolverines girls swim team was freshman Vera Caudill. In addition, the Wolverines’ MacKenzie Hensel earned Second Team All-Conference.
Caudill won the 500 Yard Freestyle with a time of 6:06.48, while Hensel finished second with a time of 6:21.65.
Caudill said she was happy with how she performed in the 500 Yard Freestyle. In particular, she has been consistent in achieving the 50-yard split times she wanted.
“I’m really happy with the swim,” Caudill said. “I was pretty consistent with all of my 50s and all my times.
“My time was pretty quick. I was really happy with it. My brother carded for me, and I think he did a good job, too. Overall, I am really happy with it.”
To achieve excellence in the race and obtain her goal times, Caudill said she focused on being fast and aggressive at the start.
“I was really focused today on just going out fast and being aggressive with it, and just really keeping my kick up and going,” Caudill said. “I’ve swam it a lot over a lot of years, so I am pretty used to it by now. I just got to really focus and make sure that I am doing it right and being consistent.”
Only a freshman, Caudill has a goal of making it to districts this year and placing high in the 500 yard freestyle. She is also hoping to help her relay teams reach districts.
