Bowlus and Verb set league records
The Bluffton High School boys and girls swim team competed on Saturday, January 28 in the North Central Ohio Swim conference championships hosted by Colonel Crawford high school in North Robinson, Ohio. Bluffton joined eight other teams from Colonel Crawford, Upper Sandusky, Ada, Bucyrus, Fostoria, Elgin, McComb and Mt. Gilead high schools.
The girls team finished in second with 253 points behind Colonel Crawford with 302.5 points. The Upper Sandusky team finished in third place with 241.5 points.
The boys team finished third with 220 points. Colonel Crawford boys won with 315 points, with Upper Sandusky in second with 224.5 points.
Three conference records were broken by the Pirates. Jackson Bowlus now holds the conference record in the boys 50 freestyle with a time of :22.99. Riley Verb holds two conference records, one in the boys 200 IM with a time of 2:13.97 and the boys 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.62.
Izzy Stechschulte re-set two Pirate team records. She continues to hold the records in the 200 free with a new time of 2:09.53 and the 100 free with a new time of :57.38 and in the
Swimmers who finished first in their event are named first team all-conference, second place are second team all-conference, and third place are honorable mention all-conference.
Points earned for the Pirates by event were:
Girls 200 yard medley relay:
Bluffton A Relay finished in second place with 26 points: Jenna Downey, Allison Diller, June Essinger, Izzy Stechschulte
Boys 200 yard medley relay:
Bluffton A Relay finished in second place with 26 points: Jackson Bowlus, Riley Verb, CJ McCall and Xavier Diller.
Girls 200 free:
Izzy Stechschulte finished second with 13 points, set a new team record of 2:09.53 and was named second team all-conference.
Makenna Mohr finished sixth with nine points.
Boys 200 free:
Jacob Lehman finished fifth with 10 points
Girls 200 IM:
Allison Diller finished third with 12 points and was named honorable mention all-conference.
Rory Youngpeter finished fourth with 11 points
Boys 200 IM:
Riley Verb finished first with 16 points and set a new conference record of 2:13.97 and was named first team all-conference.
Girls 50 yard free:
Jenna Downey finished first with 16 points and was named first team all-conference.
Ella Armstrong finished fourth with 11 points
Boys 50 yard free:
Jackson Bowlus finished first with 16 points and set a new conference record of :22.99 and was named first team all-conference.
Xavier Diller finished seventh with seven points
Girls 100 butterfly:
June Essinger finished fourth with 11 points
Zoe Shank finished seventh with seven points
Boys 100 butterfly:
Charles Wright finished first with 16 points and was named first team all-conference.
CJ McCall finished fifth with 10 points
Girls 100 free:
Izzy Stechschulte finished second with 13 points, set a new team record for this event with a time of :57.38 and was named second team all-conference.
Jenna Downey finished third with 12 points and was named honorable mention all-conference
Ella Armstrong finished fourth with 11 points
Boys 100 free:
Charles Wright finished in sixth place with nine points
Jacob Lehman finished in eighth place with five points
Girls 500 free:
Zoe Shank finished seventh with seven points
Boys 500 free:
Xavier Diller finished second with 13 points and was named second team all-conference.
Girls 200 free relay:
Bluffton A relay finished second with 26 points: Jenna Downey, Allison Diller, Ella Armstrong and Izzy Stechschulte
Boys 200 free relay:
Bluffton A finished second with 26 points: Riley Verb, CJ McCall, Jacob Lehman and Charles Wright
Girls 100 backstroke:
Rory Youngpeter finished sixth with 9 points
Lena Brown finished tenth with 3 points
Boys 100 backstroke:
Jackson Bowlus finished second with 13 points and was named second team all-conference.
CJ McCall finished fourth with 11 points
Girls 100 breaststroke:
Allison Diller finished second with 13 points and was named second team all-conference.
June Essinger finished third with 12 points and was named honorable mention all-conference.
Makenna Mohr finished eighth with 5 points
Boys 100 breaststroke:
Riley Verb finished first with 16 points and set a new conference record with a time of 1:02.62 and was named first team all-conference.
Girls 400 free relay:
Bluffton A finished second with 26 points: Ella Armstrong, Makenna Mohr, Rory Youngpeter and June Essinger.
Boys 400 free relay:
Bluffton A finished second with 26 points: Charles Wright, Xavier Diller, Jacob Lehman and Jackson Bowlus.
The team will compete Thursday, February 2 for their last home meet at the Putnam County YMCA against Ada and Fostoria. It will also be senior night. The team will then compete in the Lima Division II sectional on Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Lima YMCA. Top swimmers from sectionals will move onto districts the following weekend at Bowling Green State University.
