Swimmers compete at state meet

VW independent sports/submitted information

CANTON — This past weekend members of the Van Wert High School boys swim team competed at the Division II OHSAA Swimming and Diving State Championships at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.

Things started off with Sam Houg and Robbie Gamble competing in the 50 yard freestyle. Houg swam a time of 22.08 seconds, missing the consolation final by .07 secs for a 20th place overall finish and Gamble swam a time of 22.17 seconds for a 24th place finish. Houg was back in the pool for the 100 yard freestyle and swam a time of 50.18 seconds.

The highlight was the 200 yard freestyle relay. The relay team of Houg, Andrew Laudick, Owen Scott and Gamble were seeded 17th coming into the state meet. The top 16 times qualified for finals on Friday evening and the boys put together their finest performance of the season by swimming a time of 1:30.18, which broke the school record again by 1.35 seconds but more importantly, qualified them 14th and securing them a spot in the consolation final. Houg, Laudick, Scott and Gamble put together another great race in the Finals with a time of 1:30.87 placing them 16th overall.

The state meet in Ohio is considered to be one of the top state meets in the country and with only two divisions for all teams across the state of Ohio, qualifying and placing is considered an impressive accomplishment.

Houg, Laudick, Gamble, and Scott finished their high school swimming careers with a combined five school records between the four of them, two individual and three relays.