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Canfield swimmers finish strong in Division II
Bogen places seventh in 100 breaststroke,
Cardinals’ relays also impressive at state
By CHARLES GROVE
CANTON
The Canfield Cardinals boys swimming team had multiple showings at Friday’s Division II state championship meet and by the end of the night, everyone was going home with smiles.
Senior Matthew Bogen, the lone individual participant for the Cardinals, was seeded eighth in the 100 breaststroke championship final and finished seventh, posting a time of 1:01.06, just shy of his goal of clipping the minute mark.
“It’s a little disappointing,” Bogen said. “I qualified for the final by swimming one minute flat, I really wanted to get under a minute, but it’s just such a thrill to be here that anything you get once you get to the state level is gravy.”
The Cardinals had teams competing in the consolation finals of the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle. Those teams consisted of Cullen Brady, Bogen, Alec Gaetano and Ben Brucoli and finished fourth and third, respectively. The underdog 400 freestyle relay team made up of Kamran Sarac, Jared Rothbauer, Lake Bennett and Bobby Kutsch finished sixth in the consolation final.
Bogen competed in the day’s fourth event, the 200 medley relay, and then had plenty of time to think about and prepare for his breaststroke final as 36 other competitions took place between events. But Bogen took in the atmosphere and enjoyed the day, not obsessing about his upcoming race, the final one of his high school career. “I just watched and took in some of the other races and talked to some friends,” Bogen said. “I didn’t want to stress out too much. I just tried to enjoy myself.”
The pleasant surprise of the Canfield bunch was undoubtedly the 400 freestyle relay team. The foursome looked like they weren’t even going to advance out of sectional competition. Three weeks ago the team swam a 3:38 before sectionals and got that time down to 3:26 at the sectional meet. That time got clipped again to 3:23 in the district competition and the team then swam even faster in Canton, posting a time of 3:21.
“We were so excited to be here we were like, ‘Let’s go out and have fun with it,’ ” Sarac said. “We were happy with every time we got. At the beginning of the year we never thought we would’ve come this far.”
Canfield assistant coach Ryan O’Malley said he’s never seen a team take off that many seconds in a relay in such a short amount of time.
“I’ve very proud of what they’ve done,” O’Malley said. “I’m very proud to be a coach right now of these kids. We got Matt on the podium, we got multiple relays here. I’m very happy with everything that’s happened in the finals.”
Leading up to the state competition, O’Malley said his team made sure to pare down the number of laps they were swimming in order to stay fresh for the competition.
“We wanted to make sure we tapered off our laps for sectionals and we did the same for districts,” he said.
Said Rothbauer: “After everything we’ve been through, we owe a lot to these great coaches.”
The Division I state finals take place today in Canton and numerous local swimmers will be participating in that tournament.
Boardman is sending sophomore Callen Aulizia to the 50 freestyle championship final and the consolation final of the 100 freestyle. Also, the 200 freestyle relay team of Aluizia, Kyle Kimerer, Ethan Schwendeman and Aaron DunLany will compete in the consolation final. The same foursome will also compete in the consolation final of the 400 freestyle relay.
The Raiders will be represented by Warren Harding’s Michael Miller, who will be participating in the consolation final of the 50 freestyle. Fitch junior Timmy Kibacki qualified as an alternate for the 200 individual medley.
Swimming finals for the Division I competition begin at 4 p.m. at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.