MV sends three relay teams to district in swimming

Three Mount Vernon boys’ relay teams will get their chance at a shot at state swimming competition. The Yellow Jackets qualified three teams for districts after finishing with solid times in the Division I Swimming sectionals on Feb. 13 at Delaware YMCA.

The districts will be held Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Ohio University Aquatics Center in Athens. MV qualified in the 200-yard individual medley relay, the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

The 400 team of Matthew Sant, Dax Sabo, Case Sabo and Collin McFarlane had the best overall placement at sectionals, finishing seventh in a time of 3:38.46. The winning team from each event automatically advanced, with other spots receiving at-large bids thanks to their times.

The 200 relay team of Dax Sabo, Sant, Ben Henricksen and McFarlane came in eighth with a time of 1:37.84, and the 200 IM team of McFarlane, Sebastian Thorne, Sabo and Owen Cook was 10th at 1:50.14.

The Jackets had several other solid individual performances that just missed qualifying for district.

Dax Sabo finished 12th overall in the 100 butterfly in a time of 57.72; Case Sabo was 14th in the 100 backstroke at 1:08.83; Sant was 17th in the 50 free (25.53); and Dash McCoy finished 20th in the 100 backstroke (1:19.98).

The girls’ team competed Feb. 14 and had several top 20 finishes, just not good enough to advance.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Elizabeth Lebold, Taylor Zimmerman, Sala Glandon and Lucy Rush finished ninth overall in a time of 1:55.00; the 200 individual medley team of Rush, Glandon, Lebold and Zimmerman came in 10th at 2:10.79; and the 400 relay team of Zimmerman, Naomi McFarlane, Bailey Vanderpool and Rush were 11th in 4:38.34.

Rush also picked up a 15th place finish in the 500 freestyle (6:08.66), while Lebold was 18th in the 100 butterfly (1:13.76); and Glandon came in 20th in the 100 breaststroke (1:23.69).