Records broken and a 14-year streak ends at the swimming and diving regional

The Region 8 Swimming and Diving Championships included four record performances and the end of a 14-year title streak at competitions held in Barbourville and Louisville on Saturday and Monday.

On Saturday in Barbourville, sisters Megan and Lauren Wedeking helped Lafayette end Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 14-year run as girls region champions, while Florida State commit Seneca Oddo set a couple of records in helping Dunbar retain the boys team title for a fifth straight year.

On Monday at the University of Louisville, Lexington Catholic’s Miles Buchart, despite dealing with a nagging back issue, defended his region diving championship with a score of 510.85, which matched the region record he set last year on the way to a state title.

Record day for Oddo

Oddo broke his own region record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.67 on Saturday at Union College’s Stivers Aquatic Center in Barbourville. That bested last year’s mark by 0.05.

“I worked hard this year … and I’m pretty excited that I went better than last year,” Oddo said.

Later, Oddo tied former teammate Alex Ochsenbein’s mark of 55.47 in 100-yard breaststroke. He also anchored Dunbar’s winning 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

Oddo, who was named the meet’s most outstanding boys swimmer, credited harder practices with a new club team for his performances.

“I had a couple of months before the last state (championships) where I was in a transition period between two teams, and I think it’s just all that hard work that has paid off,” he said.

Lafayette girls break Dunbar streak

Lafayette’s Wedeking sisters each won two events and swam the middle legs of the second-place 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay teams as the Generals took 379 team points to Dunbar’s 326 in the team standings

In all, seven Lafayette girls swimmers automatically qualified for state. Myla Phelps, Riley Shaw, Mia Foley and Avery Hutchinson took second in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Lydia Dever led off the 200 freestyle.

Megan Wedeking, a senior, claimed her fourth straight 100-yard backstroke title and also took first in the 100 butterfly.

“It’s my favorite race and it’s my favorite stroke,” Megan Wedeking said after accepting her backstroke medal in a time more than five-tenths faster than last year’s win. “I’m proud of myself. It was super fun.”

Lauren Wedeking, a freshman, won the 200-yard individual medley and the 500-yard freestyle.

“We faced some adversity yesterday, and I’m super proud of the way we bounced back today,” Lafayette coach Trent Lakes said. “We started off really strong in that first couple swims and that carried the momentum the rest of the way. I couldn’t be more proud of how we swam as a collective group.”

On the boys’ side Lafayette’s Jimmy Rogers won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.21 despite complaining of a sore leg.

“(Winning) felt great, but it hurt a little bit, though,” explained Rogers, who lost the same race by a few hundredths of a second last year. This year, he knocked more than four seconds that runner-up time and credited his training for helping him push through.

Dunbar’s second-place finish in the girls standings helped the Bulldogs continue their now 17-year hold on the combined team title presented each year by the coaches association.

“Each season is a puzzle piece trying to figure out certain spots we can fill where we can best succeed when it comes to the postseason and it all came pretty much together this weekend,” Dunbar coach Cole Pleasants said.

LexCath swimmers trade firsts

Lexington Catholic’s Caroline Beiting set a new region meet record in the preliminary round of the 50-yard freestyle on Friday, but got out-touched in Saturday’s event finals by teammate Lillian Hosinski

“I was closer than I thought I was. I just tried to swim as fast as I could, I put my head down and tried to finish,” said Hosinski, whose 23.64 edged Beiting by 0.08 seconds. “It’s always been a healthy competition to me and her. It’s so fun to have her as my teammate.”

Beiting agreed and later returned the favor by edging out Hosinski for first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.79.

“I think we elevate each other a lot, and since she’s my teammate, it’s not really racing against her but just with her,” said Beiting, who put down the record 23.47 in the 50 free on Friday, bettering the previous mark of 23.85 set by Lili Elayl in 2020. “It’s really cool. Hopefully, it will stand for a few years.”

Hosinski and Beiting teamed with Anna Claire Meegan and Maysie Houlihan to win the 200-yard freestyle relay for Lexington Catholic. Beiting was named the meet’s most outstanding girls swimmer.

Diving in

In addition to Lexington Catholic’s Buchart, the Knights’ also got a winning performance from freshman Sydney Leslie who topped the girls diving event with a score of 473.80.

Her twin brother Graham Leslie took second to Miles in the boys event and will join them at the state championships.

“They are phenoms,” Lexington Catholic coach Jamie Palumbo said. “Sydney winning the girls … she’s impressive, her mindset, her talent, and she is focused.”

All eight boys divers competing Monday will make the state championships. In addition to the Lexington Catholic divers Palumbo also coaches Bryan Station’s Tyler Bobadilla, who along with Buchart and the Leslies made the all-region team.

More multiple winners

Henry Clay’s Nick Johnson defended his 100-yard backstroke title and also won the 100-yard freestyle in addition to leading off for Henry Clay’s first place 200-yard medley relay and their second-place 200-yard freestyle relay.

“It’s really humbling,” Johnson said of defending in the backstroke. “There’s so many great teams we have to race every year and it’s really an honor to be atop of it twice in a row.”

Dunbar’s Amelia Jones raced the anchor leg of the Bulldogs’ first place 200-yard medley relay and then jumped back in the pool to defend her region title in the next girls event, the 200-yard freestyle. She won it by more than four seconds.

“I just try my best and hopefully I’ll go around the same time or even better than I did before,” said Jones, who later finished second in the 500-yard freestyle.

New state meet format

Due to the limited seating capacity of the University of Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatic Center, the home of the state championships, Kentucky High School Athletic Association decided this year’s swimming event would be split into two weekends consisting of a State First Round at three sites around the state followed by a State Final Round meet at UK.

The KHSAA has previously used the same solution for wrestling and golf for various reasons.

For swimming, there are three geographically selected sites for region qualifiers to initially compete. Regions 7-9, which includes Lexington’s teams, will compete at Scott High School near Covington on Feb. 17.

The top three finishers at each State First Round site will advance to the State Final Round at UK on Feb. 23-24. They will be joined by the next 15 highest qualifying statewide times/scores in each event.

“This is new for everybody, so we’re just going to take it one day at a time,” Lafayette’ Lakes said. “I know a lot of these kids are unsure of what’s going to happen. We just have to make sure that we can control what we can control and keep our minds in check and worry about the things we can accomplish together. If we do that, I think it will turn out really well.”

The state diving championships are scheduled to remain as a one-day event on Feb. 22.

REGION 8 SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Swimming at Stivers Aquatic Center, Barbourville, Feb. 3. Diving at the University of Louisville, Feb. 6. Automatic KHSAA State First Round qualifiers listed. Remaining State First Round qualifiers will be taken from the next 10 best among Regions 7, 8 and 9.

Complete results will be available online at khsaa.org

GIRLS’ RESULTS

Team: 1. Lafayette, 379; 2. Dunbar, 326; 3. Lexington Catholic, 253; 4. George Rogers Clark, 212; 5. Tates Creek, 205; 6. Henry Clay, 201; 7. Great Crossing, 159; 8. Montgomery County, 100; 9. Lexington Christian, 93; 10. Douglass, 79; 11. Scott County, 38; 12. Sayre, 31; 13. Powell County, 28; 14. Bryan Station, 27; 15. Bourbon County, 16; 16. Mason County, 10; 17. Paris, 4.

200-yard Medley Relay: 1. Paul Laurence Dunbar (Anna Whitney, Meher Saini, Max Reynolds, Amelia Jones), 1:50.07; 2. Lafayette (Riley Shaw, Lauren Wedeking, Megan Wedeking, Myla Phelps), 1:51.91.

200-Yard Freestyle: 1. Amelia Jones, Dunbar, 1:54.94; 2. Avery Gabbard, Henry Clay, 1:58.98.

200-Yard IM: 1. Lauren Wedeking, Lafayette, 2:08.41; 2. Tierney Maynard, Tates Creek, 2:13.58.

50-Yard Freestyle: 1. Lillian Hosinski, Lexington Catholic, 23.64; 2. Caroline Beiting, Lexington Catholic, 23.72.

1-meter Diving: 1. Sydney Leslie, Lexington Catholic, 473.80; 2. Claire Nicholas, Henry Clay, 374.20.

100-Yard Butterfly: 1. Megan Wedeking, Lafayette, 57.00; 2. Max Reynolds, Dunbar, 58.49.

100-Yard Freestyle: 1. Caroline Beiting, Lexington Catholic, 51.79; 2. Lillian Hosinski, Lexington Catholic, 52.57.

500-Yard Freestyle: 1. Lauren Wedeking, Lafayette, 5:05.46; 2. Amelia Jones, Dunbar, 5:12.93.

200-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Lexington Catholic (Caroline Beiting, Anna Claire, Meegan, Maysie Houlihan, Lillian Hosinski), 1:40.33; 2. Lafayette (Lydia Dever, Lauren Wedeking, Megan Wedeking, Avery Hutchinson), 1:42.99.

100-Yard Backstroke: Megan Wedeking, Lafayette, 57.22; 2. Max Reynolds, Dunbar, 59.22.

100-Yard Breaststroke: 1. Lauren Cox, Lexington Christian, 1:06.78; 2. Ella Kaak, Great Crossing, 1:07.32.

400-Yard Freestyle Relay: Dunbar (Mallory Jones, Anna Whitney, Charlie Boyd, Max Reynolds), 3:48.47; 2. Lafayette (Myla Phelps, Riley Shaw, Mia Foley, Avery Hutchinson), 3:50.40.

BOYS’ RESULTS

Team: 1. Dunbar, 462.50; 2. Henry Clay, 341; 3. Lafayette, 285; 4. Lexington Catholic, 214; 5. Tates Creek, 165.5; 6. Scott County, 138; 7. Douglass, 118; 8. Bryan Station, 96; 9. Montgomery County, 90; 10. Sayre, 83; 11. George Rogers Clark, 81; 12. Bourbon County, 44; 13. Lexington Christian, 30; 14. Great Crossing, 26; 15. Mason County, 10.

200-Yard Medley Relay: 1. Henry Clay (Nick Johnson, Eli Greinke, Jack Liau, Hayes Doolin), 1:36.25; 2. Dunbar (Will Hainz, Daniel Liew, Thomas Yuan, William Naehr), 1:40.21.

200-Yard Freestyle: 1. Jimmy Rogers, Lafayette, 1:43.21; 2. Sammy Nunez, Dunbar, 1:45.36.

200-Yard IM: 1. Max Yeoh, Sayre, 1:55.41; 2. Jack Liau, Henry Clay, 2:01.68.

50-Yard Freestyle: 1. Seneca Oddo, Dunbar, 20.67*; 2. Eli Greinke, Henry Clay, 21.85.

1-meter Diving: 1. Miles Buchart, Lexington Catholic, 510.85*; 2. Graham Leslie, Lexington Catholic, 481.50.

100-Yard Butterfly: 1. Jack Liau, Henry Clay, 52.65; 2. Hayes Doolin, Henry Clay, 53.48.

100-Yard Freestyle: 1. Nick Johnson, Henry Clay, 47.43; 2. Will Hinz, Dunbar, 47.78.

500-Yard Freestyle: 1. Sammy Nunez, Dunbar, 4:41.01; 2. Max Yeoh, Sayre, 4:45.99.

200-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Paul Laurence Dunbar (Justin Wong, William Naehr, Sammy Nunez, Seneca Oddo), 1:26.89; 2. Henry Clay (Nick Johnson, Jack Liau, Hayes Doolin, Eli Greinke), 1:28.03.

100-Yard Backstroke: 1. Nick Johnson, Henry Clay, 52.39; 2. Isaac Barrow, Lafayette, 52.73.

100-Yard Breaststroke: 1. Seneca Oddo, Dunbar, 55.47*; 2. Eli Greinke, Henry Clay, 57.48.

400-Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Dunbar (Sammy Nunez, Will Hinz, Justin Wong, Seneca Oddo), 3:18.38; 2. Lafayette (Jimmy Rogers, Clay Trimble, Ben Hukle, Joseph Schmidt) 3:23.80.

*Region championship record.

State meet information: khsaa.org/sports-sport-activities/winter/swimming/