Cougar swimmers advance to district

VW independent sports/submitted information

DEFIANCE — On Saturday, the Van Wert swim team traveled to Ayersville High School to compete in the Division II sectional swim meet and several of the Cougars qualified for district competition.

On the boys’ side, Andrew Laudick, Owen Scott, Sam Houg and Robbie Gamble enjoyed a successful day, as they finished as sectional champions in the 200 yard freestyle relay and placed second in the 200 yard medley relay.

In the 50 yard freestyle, Houg placed second, Gamble third, and Laudick fourth, and in the 100 yard freestyle, Houg captured another second place finish and Gamble finished fourth. In the 100 yard backstroke, Laudick placed fourth overall. All of those swimmers qualified for the northwest district meet at Bowling Green State University on Friday.

Other members of the boys swim team that swam but saw their season come to a close were Cole Story, Quintin Parrish, and Jayden White.

On the girls’ side, Haley Chiles placed third in the 200 yard freestyle and Olivia Ashbaugh finished seventh in the 50 yard freestyle. The two were back in the pool for the 100 yard freestyle and placed 10th and 11^th respectively. The 200 yard freestyle relay team of Chiles, Noelle Byrum, Lilie Mull and Ashbaugh placed seventh. The girls 400 yard freestyle team of Ashbaugh, Mull, Katie Kramer and Chiley finished sixth. All of those swimmers moved on to Friday’s Division II district meet at Bowling Green.