By Madison Jones | Bomber Media
The Kenston girls and boys swim and dive teams opened up the season with their first meet against Mayfield on Saturday. Even though both teams lost, there were still highlights from the meet.
The girls 400 yard freestyle relay of Hannah Cooper, Cayla DiBernardo, Kaitlyn Kowalczyk, and Molly Bochenek placed first with a time of 4:00.78. DiBernardo and Bochenek were part of this relay when it went to the state meet last year while Kowalczyk and Cooper are new additions.
Diver Clay Foster, a 2020-21 state qualifier, placed first with a final score of 241.13 and diver Alex Bayus, also a state qualifier last season, placed second with a final score of 208.35.
The girls 200 yard medley relay of Bochenek, Madison Jones, Cooper, and DiBernardo, placed first with a time of 2:01.07.
The boys 200 yard medley relay of Joe Drsek, Bobby Delzell, Luke Schmidt, and Nick Korenowski also placed first with a time of 1:50.24.
Although the team did not win the overall meet, many swimmers posted personal bests. These swimmers include Lauren Jaroch, Cate Zoltowicz, Keely Chamberlin, Molly Bochenek, Hannah Cooper, Kaitlyn Kowalczyk, Patsy Brennan, Laura Decroos, Katie Hodgekins, Kaden Selby, Jason Fronczek, Bobby Delzell, Dom Blogna, Owen Stice, Tyshon McKinney, Noah Melhem, Joe Drsek, and Will Belew.
Led by Coach Kari Collier and Coach Edwin Fladger, the team has been swimming six days a week as well as conditioning two times a week since late October.
“I’ve been practicing hard and every day I practice my stroke to make sure it’s stronger so that every meet it’s going to be faster,” said junior Kaitlyn Kowalczyk.
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This season the girls team gained four new freshmen and one new sophomore. The boys team gained two new freshmen as well as three new sophomores making the boys swim team larger than last year.
Freshman Luke Schmidt said, “My first meet was a very exciting experience. Everyone’s cheering each other on and giving advice to others just makes the whole experience fun for everyone.”
The team competes at their next dual meet on Friday, Dec. 10 at Perry High School.▮
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Madison Jones is a multimedia reporter for Bomber Media and a junior at Kenston High School.