St. Xavier boys, Mason girls extend win streaks as records fall at Southwest Ohio Classic
01/24/2025 04:25 PM
By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
2025 Southwest Ohio High School Classic
- January 18-19, 2025
- Keating Natatorium — Cincinnati, Ohio
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Full Results
The Southwest Ohio Classic is an important tune-up for local teams on the way to the high school championship season. Swimmers and divers headed to Keating Natatorium for the two-day affair on Jan. 18, which features events not typically raced at the high school level, like the 400 IM, 1650 free, and 200s of stroke.
At the end of the two-day prelims/finals affair, the St. Xavier boys and Mason girls extended their title-winning streaks. The St. Xavier boys are the only boys team to have won the team title at this meet as the team claimed its 41st straight trophy. On the girls' side, Mason won its third straight.
Girls' Varsity Meet Recap
Six meet records fell on the girls' side, including all four relay records. The Mason girls scored 415 points to win the meet, narrowly extending their streak by beating Ursuline by only six points.
Ursuline got a bulk of its points from the relay events as the team won three in meet record time. Grier Gordon, Norah Smyth, Alyssa Uhlman, and Melia Eckman started the record-breaking spree with a 3:47.04 in the 400 medley relay. Then, Eckman, Sophia Molina, Celina Donovan, and Smyth closed the first day of the meet with a 1:34.42 meet record in the 200 freestyle. After Mason earned a meet record of its own in the 200 medley relay with a 1:43.20, Ursuline won its third relay of the meet with Smyth, Uhlman, Eckman, and Grier teaming for a 3:26.65 in the 400 free relay.
After taking a break from high school swimming during the 2023-24 season, Addie Robillardis making her presence known in her senior season as part of the Sycamore squad. Robillard, a Stanford commit, went four-for-four in her individual events at the meet, breaking two meet records. She swept the breaststroke events with meet records of 1:01.86/2:11.15. She also swept the IMs, hitting 4:17.41 to win the 400 IM and her first event of the meet, then clocking 2:01.48 in the 200 IM.
One of Mason's strongest assets at the meet was junior Bella Teply, who in addition to contributing to the relays won three events for Mason. Teply was the only Mason swimmer to win an individual event, as the team relied mostly on its depth for the win. The Northwestern commit got her meet started by winning the 200 freestyle with a personal best of 1:49.12, which she followed up with a best of 4:54.18 to win the 500 freestyle.
Teply then showed off her freestyle range, winning the 100 freestyle with a 50.89, another lifetime best. Outside of her individual races, Teply led off Mason's 400 medley relay with a lifetime best of 55.62 in the 100 backstroke.
KMK junior Maya Schweikert also won three individual races. The NC State commit won the 50 freestyle in 23.84, then swept the backstroke events with times of 53.28/1:57.24.
CHCA's Taylor Bacherdidn't rack up as many event wins as Robillard, Teply, or Schweikert, but her event win in the 200 fly was a historic one. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Bacher suffered a concussion in the fall. Still, she won the 200 fly here in a 2:01.73, securing a four-peat in the event at the Southwest Classic.
"It felt really good this year based off of what I've been through," she told The Enquirer. "No one knew what would really happen, even if I would be swimming right now, so it was really exciting and just made me feel really good that I could still accomplish that with everything I've been through."
Quin Schureck edged out Ursuline's Uhlman for the win in the 100 fly, holding off a late charge from Uhlman to get the win, 55.61 to 55.66. Junior Matilda Prizler rounded out the individual event winners by touching first in the 1650 freestyle with a 17:14.15.
Top 5 Teams:
- Mason — 415
- Cincinnati Ursuline Academy — 409
- Cincinnati St. Ursula Academy — 334
- Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy — 299
- Cincinnati Sycamore — 249
Boys' Varsity Meet Recap
The St. Xavier boys picked up steam in the back half of the meet and ended up with five event wins, but it was largely the team's depth bolstering its 41st straight win. The team earned 566.6 points, while Mason snagged the runner-up spot with 413, 153.6 points out of first place.
St. Xavier head coach Dave Albert told The Enquirer,"I think the biggest thing that stood out to us is how the team responded as teammates. A lot of guys really stepped up. They know their roles. They approached the challenges we had in front of them. They supported each other and they got the job done."
After picking up plenty of points in events like the 400 IM or 100 fly. They didn't win those events—which were won by Caeden Woeste (4:07.29) and AJ Gomez (49.52), but St. Xavier finished 2-3-5 in the 400 IM, and 3-8 in the 100 fly. St. Xavier got its first win of the meet in the 200 freestyle relay. Owen Gee, Sam DeMarco, Chase Grisi, and Gino Eckert swam 1:25.97, taking the win by four-tenths over Milford. Grisi and DeMarco teamed with Tucker Charles and Jaeger Ellermanto open Day Two of the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:32.70).
The team earned its third straight event win in the next event, as junior Alex Nixon climbed from his psych sheet rank to win the 1650 free in a lifetime best 16:11.93. Later on Day Two, Grisci, a junior committed to Minnesota, won the 200 fly with a lifetime best of 1:49.12. Ellerman grabbed the team's final event win of the meet in the 100 breaststroke, touching in 56.94 to finish .16 seconds ahead of Hamilton Ross senior Connor Bennett.
Stanford commit Jason Zhaotook down the lone meet record that got broken on the boys' side, swimming a 1:37.41 in the 200 freestyle to win the first of three events. Like fellow Stanford commit Robillard, this is Zhao's return to the Southwest Classic after taking a year off from high school swimming during the lead-up to the Olympic Trials.
Zhao also won the 200 breaststroke on the first day of the meet, clocking 2:01.34. On Day Two, he added a win in the 200 IM, swimming 1:52.42 to finish ahead of Bennett, a senior headed to Cincinnati, who clocked 1:53.01.
Brady Campbelland Hayden Meyerswere other double-event winners on the day. Campbell, a sophomore, swept the sprint freestyles, swimming 20.22 and 44.60. For his part, Meyers swept the backstrokes. The Georgia commit logged 48.87/1:44.63 to win his events.
Milford's team of Landon Crum, Cameron Barclay, Emmett Fentress, and Campbell came from behind to win the 400 freestyle relay ahead of St. Xavier, 3:07.38 to 3:07.74. That secured Milford third place with 284 points, ahead of Moeller's 278.
Mason, the runner-up, won the opening 400 medley relay as Austin Zhong, Ethan Tu, Liam Clark, and Aidan Jansen swam 3:26.63, touching eight-hundredths ahead of Hamilton Ross's 'A' relay. Sophomore Cole Mulenga added another event win for Mason, taking the 500 freestyle in 4:39.24.
Top 5 Teams:
- Cincinnati St. Xavier — 566.6
- Mason — 413
- Milford — 284
- Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller — 278
- Hamilton Ross — 263
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