By Cort Reynolds

CANTON – Five Bluffton High School swimmers competed well at the Div. II Ohio state meet preliminary round in Canton’s C.T. Branin Natatorium on Thursday evening, February 26.

Pirate senior ace Jackson Bowlus advanced to a pair of finals raceson  Friday evening. Bowlus finished sixth in the 32-swimmer 100 backstroke field in 52.66, an improvement of .60 over his district time. He qualified for the A Finals on Friday evening by being one of the top nine swimmers.

Bowlus ended up 13th out of 32 swimmers in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.88 to make it to the B Finals Friday for the 10 through 18 finishers. 

Pirate senior Jenna Downey finished 21st out of 31 swimmers in the girls 50-yard freestyle prelims with a time of 25.17. 

Freshman Camden Verb placed 27th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:03.13.

The Pirate boys 200 medley relay quartet of Bowlus, Owen Armstrong, Aaron Ungashick and Camden Verb finished 21st in a field of 23 teams with a time of 1:43.87.

Freshman Max Fritsch and Brady Benroth were relay alternates.