Swimming & Diving: Hartley Hawks, Reynoldsburg Raiders prep for postseason

Hartley swimming and diving coach Tony Phillips used the word “challenging” to describe what his program’s season has been like due to interruptions brought on by COVID-19 and other issues.

One thing keeping the Hawks’ heads up as they prepare for the Division II postseason has been what they’ve slowly been able to build from a relational standpoint after the pandemic limited their schedule even more heavily a season ago.

Sophomore Allie Gunsorek — who swam on the 400-meter freestyle relay for Columbus School for Girls that finished 20th at state last season before transferring to Hartley in the offseason — is optimistic about what lies ahead during her first postseason with the Hawks.

The sectional is Feb. 12, with the girls competing at CSG and the boys swimming at Columbus Academy. The first-place finisher in each event along with at-large qualifiers advance to the district meet Feb. 17 at Ohio State.

“It’s been going pretty well,” Gunsorek said. “I like the community. COVID has been kind of tricky because every week we’ll have one or two practices off, so it’s been kind of hard. (My times) aren’t where I want them to be just yet, but it’ll be good by when I get to the sectionals.”

On Jan. 29 in the CCL meet at St. Charles, the girls team scored 397 points to finish behind Watterson (513) and DeSales (502) and the boys finished with 170 points to place behind the host Cardinals (623), DeSales (424) and Watterson (238) and ahead of Ready (31).

Gunsorek, who is a New Albany resident, has been among the team’s surprises, according to Phillips.

At the CCL meet, Gunsorek was runner-up in the 100 free (1 minute, 0.92 of a second) and fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:35.49). She also swam on the 200 medley relay (2:01.98) with juniors Abby Di-Nardo and Mackenzie Frizzell and freshman Ava Dyer and on the 400 free relay (4:09.37) with Dyer, Frizzell and junior Chloe Albrecht as each finished second.

In addition, Di-Nardo was second in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.73) and third in the 200 IM (2:35.49), Dyer was runner-up in the 500 free (5:43.75) and third in the 100 backstroke (1:05.52) and Frizzell was fourth in the 100 free (1:05.75).

The boys team was led by senior Stuart Landry, who was fourth in the 100 free (59.44) and seventh in the 50 free (25.34), while senior William Sheridan was sixth in the 100 back (1:04.89) and sophomore Nathan Ogden was fifth in the 100 breast (1:16.71) and seventh in the 200 IM (2:29.68).

“It’s been challenging with meets getting canceled and rescheduled, missing swimmers each week,” Phillips said. “We’re down a couple for injury or COVID, but we’re hanging in there.”

•Reynoldsburg is preparing for the Division I sectional Feb. 12 at Upper Arlington, where the first-place finisher and at-large competitors will advance to the district meet Feb. 19 at Ohio State.

After there was no league meet last season, both the boys and girls squads are heading into the postseason with a bigger base of competition from which to build.

In the OCC-Buckeye Division meet Jan. 29 at New Albany, the boys finished as runner-up (256) to Lancaster (278) and the girls were third (194) behind Pickerington Central (370) and Lancaster (218).

Both teams have emerging young swimmers, with sophomore Andrew Taulbee among that group.

“We’ve been working a lot on team bonding, and I think it’s really helped,” Taulbee said. “I got my (personal best in the 100 butterfly) by six-tenths of a second (at the league meet). That was a big drop. It’s a really good pool with some good blocks and I was feeling really good in warmups.

“As a freshman (last season), just going to district was amazing. It was a whole different kind of experience than a normal swim season. Once you make it, you’re happy with it. There are a lot of emotions.”

Senior Max Hutson-Comeaux heads into the postseason after capturing league titles in the 200 free (1:51.39) and 500 free (4:59.1). Taulbee won league championships in the 100 breast (1:01.97) and 100 fly (53.19).

They both joined sophomore Max Rollins and freshman Brenton Fowler in winning the 200 medley relay (1:44.61) and 200 free relay (1:33.81).

Rollins only competed in a limited capacity as a freshman.

“It’s been going well,” Rollins said. “It feels good (to compete).”

The girls team has sophomores Araceli Gaver and Annaliess Stith leading the way.

“It’s been a lot of fun compared to last year when we didn’t have many meets or practices,” Stith said. “Everybody’s swimming fast and our relays have been good.”

At the league meet, Stith was first in the 100 breast (1:10.36) and runner-up in the 200 IM (2:16.58), while Gaver was first in the 500 free (5:55.45) and runner-up in the 100 fly (1:06.91).

They both swam on the first-place 200 free relay (1:52.15) with seniors Olivia Dulay and Anna Haines, and Gaver, Haines and Stith were joined on the third-place 200 medley relay (2:05.13) by junior Cameran Ball.

“We’ve had a lot of great swims,” coach Josh Dorsett said. “All around, we feel really, really good. I can’t wait to get them ready for sectionals. A lot of our swimmers last year, who were kind of developing swimmers, have really stepped up and have been working their butts off.”

julrey@thisweeknews.com

@UlreyThisWeek

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Swimming & Diving: Hartley, Reynoldsburg prep for postseason