By Cort Reynolds
LIMA - The Ada girls and boys swim teams competed in the Div. II swim sectionals at the Lima YMCA Saturday, with three Bulldog athletes qualifying for the district meet next Friday.
Ada sophomore Klava Katayama won the 100 butterfly race and finished second in the 50 freestyle to qualify for the Bowling Green district event in both events.
Katayama dominated in the 100 fly, out-distancing second-place finisher Claire Gass of Celina by 3.64 seconds. She set a Div. II Lima girls sectional meet record at 58.89. Her time would have placed her in the top eight in the state finals 100 fly race in 2017.
Last year Katayama made it to the state meet at Canton in the 50 free, where she finished 17th as a freshman.
Bulldog senior Zach Beaschler qualified to Bowling Green in two events. Beaschler took second in the 100 freestyle and finished fourth in the 50 freestyle race.
"Klava is hopeful to return to state, and Zach is looking to get to the state meet for the first time," said Ada head coach Tanner Holke.
Beaschler is seeded 10th by time in the 50 free at districts. Last year, he mde it to BG in the 200 individual medley.
"Zach is a great taper swimmer, so I am excited to see how he swims since he will be in peak form on Friday," said Holke. "He made it into the fastest (and final heat) at districts in the 100 free as an eighth seed."
Sophomore Isaac Spar also qualified into the district meet for the second straight year after finishing fourth in the 100 butterfly at Lima.
"Isaac has done a great job keeping up with additional lifting throughout the season, and I expect that lifting to have its biggest payoff this weekend at districts on a bigger stage," said Holke.
Spar is seeded 23rd at the BG district in the 100 fly. He took seventh in the district 100 fly race in 2017 as a freshman. This year, he missed making it to BG in the 200 free as well by about two seconds.
The Lady Bulldog swimmers tied for eighth out of 13 teams with St. Marys at 97 points apiece, just ahead of 10th-place Kenton(82). Celina ran away with the girls title by scoring 453 points, far ahead of second-place Shawnee (280).
Shawnee captured first in the boys standings with 453 points, well ahead of Upper Sandusky (266). Meanwhile, the Ada boys finished ninth out of 11 teams with 110 points.
"The Celina girls were totally dominant, but both Ada girls and boys held their own," summed up Holke.
Top Ada girls finishes:
100 yard butterfly: Klava Katayama, 1st 58.89
50 freestyle: K. Katayama, 2nd 24.72
500 free: Gizem Tanriverdi, 13th 7:00.55
100 backstroke: Sidney Gossard, 15th 1:16.7
100 breaststroke: Olivia Hiester, 18th 1:30.22
400 free relay: Ada 7th 4:25.58
200 medley relay: Ada 8th 2:14.5
Top Ada boys finishes/district qualifiers:
100 yard free: Zach Beaschler, 2nd 51.59
50 free: Zach Beaschler, 4th 23.11
100 fly: Isaac Spar, 4th 60.69
The Div. II northwest district meet will be held at Bowling Green State University Friday evening, Feb. 16. The Div. II state meet will be at Canton's C.T. Branin natatorium Feb. 22-23.
The top two finishers in any race from the various district meets automatically make it to Canton. The next fastest times fill out the top 32 qualifiers to state in each event.
