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Bailey’s mettle could land medal in Canton
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Boardman Swimmer Ryan Bailey
Video
Boardman Swimmer Ryan Bailey and coach Terry O'Halloran talk about the sport.
Each year, Ohio holds 24 state championships. Thanks to capacity crowds, quick races and noise that cascades against the walls and the water inside C.T. Branin Natatorium, the state swim meet might be the best.
Being there is invigorating, intoxicating exhilarating and electrifying.
Getting there is often tedious, monotonous, repetitive and dull, particularly during twice-daily practices.
Last February, Boardman junior Ryan Bailey learned what it took to get there. He also learned what it took to win there, and has used the last 11 months to refine his technique with an eye on capturing the school’s first swimming title since Tyler O’Halloran won two in 2003.
That journey starts this weekend in Akron with the Division I sectional meet.
“I think a good way to describe him [Bailey] is he’s tenacious when it comes to working on his technique,” said Spartans coach Terry O’Halloran, Tyler’s father. “If you see something wrong with his stroke and you mention it to him, he will work on it and pester you to let him know if he’s doing it correctly.”
Bailey placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly in last year’s Division I state meet with a time of 51.45.
He’s lowered that time to 49.86 this year, breaking Tyler O’Halloran’s school record. It’s the second-best time in the state so far this season and is a second faster than anyone else in Division I. (Ohio has two divisions in swimming.)
Bailey also has the sixth-fastest time in Ohio in the 100 breaststroke and the 14th-fastest time in the 50 free.
“I’ve put up a lot faster times this year than last year and that just comes from hard work this summer,” Bailey said. “I worked very hard in the pool this year and I’m a lot more confident in myself.”
Added Terry O’Halloran, “He knows exactly what he wants to do, what his goals are, and this year he’s not quite as tense. He’s more in control of his personal emotions.”
That confidence comes both from performing well at last year’s state meet — “That meet is a pressure-cooker and you can’t substitute the experience of dealing with the pressure and all the other distractions,” Terry O’Halloran said — and being faster this season.
Bailey set two individual records at last month’s Northeast Aquatic Conference meet to earn “Male Swimmer of the Meet.” He earned the same honor at December’s Christmas Invitational in Canton, which pits more than 70 high schools from across Ohio and is considered a precursor to the state meet.
“Ryan is very talented physically and he has worked hard to perfect his techniques,” Terry O’Halloran said. “I think that’s what puts him in a class of his own at this point.”
Butterfly is generally considered the most difficult swimming stroke — it takes a precise combination of rhythm, timing, strength and stamina— with breaststroke the second-hardest.
Bailey has tried to master not just the strokes but other elements of the race, from his dolphin kick to the underwater streamline used at the start of races and off turns.
“I love having coaches get in my face and tell me what I’m doing wrong,” Bailey said. “I’m always asking, ‘Do I have great technique?’ That’s one of the most important things you can have.”
Bailey plans to swim in college and his times will be watched closely over the next few weeks by college scouts. But he said it’s too early to think about anything but this season. And why would he? The reward for months of difficult (and often monotonous) practice comes in February.
“It doesn’t get much better than this right now,” Bailey said.