By Cort Reynolds
LIMA - The Ada varsity swim teams competed in flight two of the Div. II sectionals at the Lima YMCA natatorium Saturday.
Three Lady Bulldog individuals and one relay squad qualified for the district meet Friday evening at Bowling Green State University.
"Weíre really happy with how everybody swam," noted Ada first-year head coach Katey Stuart. "We had some great time drops from the beginning of the season, and quite a few personal-best times."
Sophomore Carlie Oldfield won the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke races to pace the Lady Bulldogs.
Senior Paige Cole touched first well ahead of the field in the 100 butterfly, while teammate sophomore Kaitlyn Bowden finished second to also make it to BG.
Oldfield, Cole and Bowden also swam for the qualifying second-place 200 medley relay foursome with sophomore Kayla Wince.
A top four finish in a race at sectionals usually will qualify a swimmer or relay team to the district meet. This year the sectionals were split into different flights at several sites, making district qualification more complicated.
Ada freshman Jack Baumgartner took second in 200 individual medley to post the top sectional finish for the Bulldog boys.
Ada sectional finishers:
Girls 100 Yard Butterfly
1st Paige Cole Sr 1:05.68
2nd Kaitlyn Bowden So 1:10.58
Girls 50 Yard Freestyle
1st Carlie Oldfield So 25.34
19th Kayla Wince So 34.72
Girls 100 Yard Backstroke
1st Carlie Oldfield So 1:02.75
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle
4th Kaitlyn Bowden So 2:21.18
Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke
5th Paige Cole Sr 1:16.69
6th Kayla Wince So 1:28.80
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay
2nd Ada A 2:03.40
1) Oldfield, Carlie SO 2) Wince, Kayla SO
3) Cole, Paige SR 4) Bowden, Kaitlyn SO
Boys 200 IM
2nd Baumgartner, Jack Fr 2:52.72
Boys 200 Yard Individual Medley
4th ADA 2:10.45
1) Baumgartner, Jack FR 2) Miller, Brayden SO
3) Hartman, Dylan SO 4) Daugherty, Connor SO
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke
5th Baumgartner, Jack Fr 1:23.98
9th Hartman, Dylan So 1:35.84
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
16th Miller, Brayden So 1:12.77
Boys 50 freestyle
16th Daugherty, Connor So 29.14
19th Miller, Brayden So 31.14
The district meet is at Bowling Green Friday evening, February 19.
"We are looking forward to districts this Friday, and hope to have even more time drops, and some great races," Stuart noted.
A top four finish in an event at districts often will qualify a swimmer or relay team to the state meet at Canton.
With the 50 free a difficult-to-gauge short sprint, Oldfield's best chance to make it to Canton might be in the 100 back, while Cole's top shot is in the 100 fly.
