Mount Vernon swimmers place fourth at Small Schools Invitational

The Mount Vernon boys’ and girls’ swim teams each finished fourth in their own Small Schools Invitational, held Dec. 20 at Kenyon College’s Lowry Center.

Both teams were just a few points from finishing third in the 17th annual event, as the girls scored 243 points and the boys had 256. Watkins Memorial won the girls’ event with 338 points. Cincinnati Madeira was next at 277, followed by Jonathan Alder at 247. East Knox scored 19 points.

On the boys’ side, Madeira won with 379 points. Whetstone was second at 287, followed by Watkins at 258.

The MV boys’ relay teams fared extremely well on the day. The 200-yard medley team of Collin McFarlane, Sebastian Thorne, Dax Sabo and Matthew Sant finished second in a time of 1:51.95; the 200 freestyle team of Sant, Owen Cook, Ben Henricksen and McFarlane came in third in 1:42.00; and the 400 free team of Sabo, Henricksen, Cook and McFarlane were fourth in 3:53.48.

McFarlane also took home runner-up honors in the 1-meter diving. He scored 429.70 points on the day. Sabo picked up two solid finishes, placing fifth in the 100 butterfly (1:03.82) and fifth in the 200 individual medley (2:22.83). Mason Tocheff had a sixth-place finish in the 200 free (2:26.48), Thorne was sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.54), Sant finished seventh in the 100 breast (1:15.83) and eighth in the 100 free (56.08) and Cook was eighth in the 500 free (6:15.09).

The Jacket girls’ team also had some strong finishes in the relays. The 200 medley team of Lucy Rush, Sala Glandon, Elizabeth Lebold and Taylor Zimmerman finished fourth (2:16.51), while the 200 free relay team of Glandon, Bella Eaton, Zimmerman and Lebold was fourth (2:05.24) and the 400-relay team of Eaton, Naomi McFarlane, Bailey Vanderpool and Glandon was fifth (4:56.27).

Rush had two top finishes individually, finishing third in the 50 freestyle (28.21) and fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:39.44). Avery Young was second in the 1-meter diving (341.90 points), while Bella Glorius was third (297.95) and Riley Jones fourth (294.80). Glandon finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:24.00) and Lebold was seventh in the 100 butterfly (1:26.78).

The Mount Vernon swim team and staff were appreciative of the many volunteers who helped run the invitational, as well as Kenyon College for allowing them to use their incredible aquatic facilities and pools.

The Jackets will get some time off for the holidays and will swim again on Jan. 10 in a Mansfield Senior Invitational.