Boardman girls swim team wins NEAC title

The Boardman High School girls swim team shocked the eight team field of the Northeast Aquatic Conference with a team victory at the conference championships at Wooster High School on Jan. 7.

The Sparts scored 393 team points to defeat Wooster (380), Canfield (286), Massillon Perry (233), Kent Roosevelt (215), Warren Harding (212), Glenoak (199) and Massillon Washington (113).

Boardman posted wins in the first three events, which set the tone for the rest of the meet. Freshmen Sarah Gonda and Brooke Bailey teamed with senior Emily Bodamer and junior Gaby DeAscentis to win the 200 medley relay in a season-best time of 1:54.94.

The next two events were the 200 freestyle and the 200 individual medley. Spartan junior Colleen Manning and sophomore Jessica Hilk won those two events, respectively. Both girls posted two more individual wins. Hilk won the 100 freestyle and Manning won the 500 freestyle.

The Boardman girls won the 400 freestyle relay and tied for first in the 200 freestyle relay with Wooster. Both teams posted an electronic time of 1:43.99. The 200 free relay winners were Jordyn Markovitch, Hilk, Emily Bodamer and Manning. The swimmers winning the 400 relay were Markovitch, Hilk, Bailey and Manning. Their winning time was 3:47.75, which was 11 seconds faster than second-place Wooster.

The boys team placed fifth overall in the meet. Canfield (402) won the team title, followed by Wooster (372), Warren Harding (288), Glenoak (287), Boardman (235), Kent Roosevelt (225), Massillon Washington (152) and Massillon Perry (113).

In the boys meet, junior Ryan Bailey broke two conference meet records in the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke. Bailey’s record-breaking fly time was 50.77, which broke the 2007 mark of 51.70 held by Travis Wagner from Glenoak. His 100 breaststroke time of 59.02 broke the mark of 1:00.27 set last year by Canfield and now Ohio State swimmer Gavin Trebilcock.

Bailey also teamed with senior Alex Downie, senior Alec Santamas and junior Nick Barone to post a win in the 200 medley relay. Their time of 1:42.72 is now listed as one of the top 20 times in the state.

Bailey was also voted by the eight coaches as the “Northeast Aquatic Conference Male Swimmer of the Meet.”

“As a junior, Ryan Bailey is making a name for himself in the sport of swimming. The Northeast Aquatic Conference is almost 40 years old and as a junior he posted two individual meet records. That is quite an accomplishment considering some of the great swimmers who have come out of the conference to compete at the college level in all divisions,” said Boardman coach Terry O’Halloran.

The top eight individual swimmers in the conference meet are selected to the “Northeast Aquatic Conference 2012 All-Star Team.” Boardman swimmers who made the team this year are Manning, Hilk, Sarah Gonda, Emily Bodamer, Jordyn Markovitch, Gaby DeAscentis, Brooke Bailey, Ryan Bailey, Alec Santamas and Alex Downie.

“We had a great conference meet. Most of our swimmers posted season and career-best times,” said O’Halloran.