Double up: Ontario's Brie Trumpower wins two D-II district titles, guides relays to state
BOWLING GREEN - All season long, Ontario senior Brie Trumpower has heard the same thing.
You'll make it back to state, it's your senior year.
"But I just didn't want to take anything for granted," she said. "(I wanted to) enjoy the whole season because it's my last year, which is bittersweet."
Friday morning at the Division II district meet, not only did Trumpower dominate both of her individual races to secure a fourth trip to Canton in as many tries, she helped power the 200 and 400 freestyle relays to state berths.
"My mind was going insane, I was just so excited," she said. "But I had a good peace of mind because James 1 was in my head. It talks about having pure joy even through the trials because it's going to strengthen your faith. I really kept that in my mind and felt a really strong presence of God through all of our girls. I think that's why we pulled together and did so well as a team. All these girls are so talented and I'm honored to be part of this relay.
"Even as freshmen, they're so mature and I'm thankful to have the experience to swim with them."
That's what makes the feat so remarkable — the other three legs of the relays are all freshmen. Grace Them leads off, Joie Simmering is next, followed by Tessa Crum, and Trumpower anchors in both the 200 and 400 free relays.
Not only has it been a transition for Ontario's super senior to swim with three new girls this season, but Trumpower's role in the relay shifted for the betterment of the team.
"I've never really gone last on a relay before; I usually go first," Trumpower said. "Going last is a ton of pressure, but I know these girls have my back and they raced so hard. It's not like I had a lot of ground to make up. I just had to stay in the race.
"The adrenaline and doing this for my team — not myself — got me really pumped up to go fast."
Trumpower started her day with a blistering 1:52.93 in the 200 freestyle for her first win of the day and followed that up with a lightning fast 51.52 in the 100 freestyle. In both races she beat Port Clinton's Carlie Blaesing, by 4.26 seconds and 1.86 seconds, respectively.
"It's hard to push myself," Trumpower said about swimming alone at the front. "But I just think of it as I'm out there with God and we're talking together, he's getting me through that race. It's hard to push myself, but I just had such a peace of mind today and wanted to push myself. And I knew I was capable of that."
A third-place finish in the 200 free relay (1:39.65) was a mere eight-hundredths of a second off Oak Harbor in second thanks to an unbelievable 23.19 split by Trumpower. And a runner-up finish in the 400 free relay (3:41.24) capped off a remarkable day for her and the talented freshmen.
"They're so mature in and out of the water, and we know how to have fun," Trumpower said. "It has just been such a great experience. The team environment is so amazing. The team works so hard … they put the work in and they deserve to be here. I'm so proud.
"I'm just thankful to have the opportunity to swim at this meet again and make it to state with my girls."
Shelby's Montgomery checks off season-long goal
After placing second at sectionals last weekend in the 500 freestyle behind Colonel Crawford's Ashtyn Rickel, Shelby sophomore Emma Montgomery was a little extra motivated Friday at the Samuel M. Cooper Natatorium.
"I was definitely in a better headspace this week," she said. "We were going down in yardage and really thinking about good things to go. Getting my speed suit on, tapering, just getting excited to come to BG. This is one of my favorite pools."
That excitement fueled her to a personal-best time of 5:21.62 in the distance race, which was good enough for second behind Wauseon's Reese Ankney (5:20.43). Over the final 100 it looked like Montgomery would have enough kick to pip Ankney, but the freshman held on for the win.
"I knew I was going to be on the outside because of my sectional time, so I just had to stick with those girls," Montgomery said. "I felt I wasn't as aggressive as I could've been. If I made a move a little sooner, maybe it would've turned out differently.
"But I'm happy."
As she should be. Montgomery's goal at the beginning of the season was to make it to Canton, and that's exactly what she did in the 500 free. And she finished fourth in the 200 IM (2:16.55), which was good enough to get her through in that event, too.
"It means a lot because this season has been different from last year," Montgomery said. "I've had to learn some different things and continue what I did last year, but even more."
Colonel Crawford sends two relays to Canton
The Eagles had to play the waiting game Friday afternoon and into the evening as two of the four district meets didn't start until after the Northwest District wrapped up.
Bringing five swimmers to Bowling Green to compete in eight events, Colonel Crawford started the day with a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:55.31) with freshman Brynn Bruner (backstroke), freshman Ava Finnan (breaststroke), sophomore Rickel (backstroke) and senior Abby Martin (freestyle), and didn't let that get to them.
When it was time for the 200 free relay to begin, emotions were all over the place after individual races that didn't quite go according to plan. But once the Eagles got back into a team setting, the focus shifted to getting back to state. The foursome of Rickel, senior Rylee Ritzhaupt, Martin and Finnan came in fourth with a time of 1:42.20, and capped the day in the 400 free relay — Martin, Bruner, Rickel and Finnan — with a third-place finish (3:42.00).
"I think they had some pretty great swims," coach Shelli Ashley said. "The relays looked really, really great. The last relay just missed a school record from an amazing group of girls from 2016 by half a second, and I don't think we're done with that one. There are a lot of really good individual swimmers.
"But if you take a look at some of their times throughout the day, if you look at their individual times versus what they're swimming in relays, they're swimming for each other. They're swimming because they love each other and they're a team. I was happy with how they pulled together with that."
Finnan was fourth and Bruner seventh in the 200 free, Rickel fifth in the 500 free, Bruner swam a personal best in the 100 back to finish eighth — missed state by .11 seconds — Martin 15th and Ritzhaupt 22nd in the 100 free, and Ritzhaupt 26th in the 50 free.
"I think it's hard to swim for a program that has this much of a legacy," Ashley said. "There's so many girls that have come before them and paved the way, but at the same time they're worried about where they're going to fit with records and top-10 lists. There's just a lot of expectations I think they try to live up to, but I couldn't have asked for more out of them today.
"They gave everything they had, but we're not done yet."
All five district qualifiers are also state qualifiers spread between the two relays. For Martin and Ritzhaupt, this is business as usual. And Rickel made it to Canton as a freshman last year. But for Finnan and Bruner, they've been exactly the spark the Eagles needed this season with vacancies in the relays.
"They just bring this fun spirit to the team," Ashley said. "Ava before every event is going to wave at everyone around her. That's her way of being in her happy place. I think she was a little overwhelmed the first couple of events, and that's where the older girls came into play calming down those nerves.
"Brynn swam like a rock star and like she has swam here every year. I was very impressed with that. She just missed the school record. And Ashtyn is my rock — I can always count on her. She's the hardest worker I have in the pool, day in and day out. We made a quick switch at the end of the season to go distance but hadn't really trained distance, so who knows if that was the right move. But she's a team player who is all about the team and always does what the team needs her to do."
Top-10 finishes
Galion junior Miranda Stone was eighth in the 50 free (25.18), Shelby senior Elli Mayer placed sixth in the 100 free (55.36), and Lexington sophomore Emma Caldwell eighth in the 200 free (2:03.92).
Mansfield Senior's Madelyn Cramer was ninth in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.66), and Lexington's 400 free relay (3:55.69) of Caldwell, freshmen Bailey Slone and Lily Thomas and junior Anna Perkins was ninth.
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Ontario's Brie Trumpower wins two Division II district swim titles
