Strongsville Boys Win Division I Swim Sectional Title At Lakewood

With seniors Michael Meldon and Chris Hoffman each winning two events and Strongsville grabbing sectional titles in two of three relays, the Mustangs secured the team title in the Division I Lakewood sectional swimming meet on Friday evening at Lakewood High School.

"I'm very happy," said Strongsville coach Tom Stacy. "I'm excited for next week at the district meet at Cleveland State. We did everything we needed to do here at the sectional."

The Mustangs (488.5 points) easily moved past runner up St. Ignatius (426) for the team title.

Meldon, who was part of the Mustangs' winning 200 and 400 free relays, was the sprint champ  in both the 50 free and 100 free.

In the 50 free, Meldon won with a time of 21.17 seconds with fellow Strongsville senior Colin Lyon second in 22.21. The event saw the Mustangs have all four entrants place in the top seven as Joey Ferrante was fifth in 22.39 and senior Alex Wedel seventh in 23.42.

While Meldon and Lyon were the only Mustangs guaranteed a spot in the Cleveland State district meet as the top two finishers, Ferrante and Wedel look to go as at-large qualifiers when all other sectional times are selected this weekend.

The 100 free saw Meldon swim a 47.66 to ease past Ethan O'Rourke of Avon Lake, who was second in 48.97 with third going to Lyon with a 49.76.

Hoffman won both the 200 free and 500 free for his ticket to the CSU district. In the 200 free, Hoffman won with a 1:48.46 to edge Andrew Libertin of St. Ignatius.  Strongsville sophomore Mitchell Delventhal placed third at 1:52.77.

Later in the meet, Hoffman just missed cracking the 5-minute barrier in the 500 free with a winning time of 5:00.02, more than four seconds ahead of runner-up Grant Braid of St. Edward, who had a 5:04.83. Jack St. Marie of Westlake (5:05.81) and Strongsville's Delventhal (5:07.10) finished third and fourth, respectively.

Strongsville had a 2-3 finish in the 100 fly with senior Danny Nemeth second at 55.15 and junior Kyle Shepherd third in 55.27. Joe Craven of Westlake took honors with a 52.68.

The next best finish for the Mustangs came in the 100 breast where senior Craig Barrus placed third in 1:03.25 behind Derek Hren of St. Ignatius (1:00.46) and Mike Craig of North Royalton (1:02.44).

In the 200 individual medley, the Mustangs had two of their own tie for fifth with Shepherd and junior Alex Strawser hitting the wall at 2:06.41. Hren of St. Ignatius was the winner in 2:02.35.

The 100 back found the best Mustang finish belonging to freshman Ian Simpson with a 56.90 with Kloos of St. Ignatius first in 53.32 and Dominic Pecze of Amherst second in 53.76.

In the 200 medley relay, Strongsville used Simpson, Barrus, Nemeth and Lyon for a time of 1:41.84, good enough for second place behind winner St. Ignatius. The Wildcats' set a sectional record with a 1:39.08.

But it was Strongsville first in the 200 free relay with their own meet record, using Meldon, Lyon, Hoffman and Wedel for a 1:28.75 with St. Edward second in 1:30.42.

While just short of the meet record in the 400 free relay, the Mustangs still came away with another first in 3:18.68 behind Shepherd, Hoffman, Meldon and Simpson. St. Ignatius finished a distant second with a time of 3:25.01.

Blake Green was the top diver for Strongsville, finishing seventh with 318.35 points earlier in the week at Solon. Troy Richert of North Royalton won with 497.05 points.