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‘Am I dreaming?’: Moxley, Joseph win titles
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
On Friday night, in Lane 4 of C.T. Branin Natatorium, the best moment of Jordan Moxley’s athletic career — heck, maybe her life to that point — was unfolding, only she didn’t quite know it yet.
She had just finished the 50-yard freestyle final at the Division II state meet and was staring up at the scoreboard, trying to rip off her goggles while her eyes focused on the number that would define how she viewed her high school swimming career for, oh, the next 50 years.
“I touched [the wall] and I had no idea,” said Moxley, who finished second in the event the year before. “And that’s why I kept looking at the scoreboard because I couldn’t even believe it.”
That’s when she saw it. A one.
A beautiful, tear-inducing, career-capping one.
“I was staring at it and thinking, ‘Wait a minute? Am I dreaming?’” said Moxley, who finally exploded in celebration, raising her arms and jumping up and down in the pool. Her final time of 23.51 edged Gates Mills Gilmour Academy freshman Macie McNichols by 23-hundredths of a second.
Minutes later, as her swimming coach, Frank Supancic, walked toward the stands after the medal ceremony, Moxley’s father Chuck yelled down, “Hey Frank! I’m gonna kiss you on the mouth!”
“He’s a sick man,” Supancic said, smiling.
Four events and one hour later, Moxley swam the final race of her high school career, the 100 freestyle, just a few lanes over from McDonald senior Katie Joseph, who finished second in the event at last year’s state meet.
Unlike Moxley (who, in Supancic’s words, is more like a bucking thoroughbred entering the gate before a race), Joseph was the picture of calm. This was the eighth state final of her career and she felt like she had an advantage over McNichols, who was once again the main competition. Joseph had faded in her first event of the night, the 200 free, but that was a distant memory.
“Other kids would have gone in the crapper,” said Supancic. “They would have been babies.
“She just stays within herself. She basically tells other people, ‘If you want to beat me, you’re gonna have to swim out of your mind.’”
Joseph and McNichols were even entering the last turn. Then they weren’t.
“That last turn on the 100, that was classic,” Supancic said. “That’s where she won the race. The other girl came up a little faster and Katie had that extra stroke or two [underwater] on her and it was done.
“I knew it.”
Joseph finished in 51.45, while McNichols posted a 51.54.
True to form, Joseph just stared at the scoreboard for a few seconds with a blank expression before finally breaking into a small smile.
“I’m so happy right now, it’s unbelievable,” said Joseph, who was awarded her gold medal on the podium by her coach. “Before they actually announced my name, I was just hoping it was real.”
Because they don’t go to schools with swim teams, Moxley, Joseph and Lakeview senior Emilee Gysegem (who finished on the medal stand in two events herself) swim together on Supancic’s club team. They’re best friends and teammates — their fans wore bright orange shirts that read “McMapleview” — and credit each other, and their coach, for their success.
“I would not have been able to accomplish anything without Frank, Emilee and Jordan,” Joseph said. “They’ve helped me so much.”
Moxley (who also won a Division III state high jump title last June) and Joseph are the first state swimming champions at their respective schools and Supancic’s first champion since Warren Harding’s Denise Dupillo in 1983. They’re also the Valley’s first girls swim champion since Poland’s Carey Venglarcik in 2001.
Afterward, Joseph yelled over to Supancic, “You have to shave your head now.”
But Supancic, who has thinning gray hair, just laughed.
“Dream on — there’s not much to shave,” he said. “They didn’t do this for me, anyway. They did it for themselves.
“If they did it for me, they wouldn’t be here.”