Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School’s formidable swimming team claimed third place in the OHSAA Division I state championships on Saturday, Feb. 24 behind perennial power Cincinnati St. Xavier and Upper Arlington.
The Cardinals, led by individual champions Austin Carpenter and Jake Lloyd, finished with 205 points, only 24 points behind runner-up Upper Arlington. St. Xavier extended its dominance in the sport, racking up 302 points to win its 44th state title.
St. Charles, coached by Kyle Goodrich, improved significantly on last year’s 12th-place finish in the state meet at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton. It was the school’s best finish since also taking third in 2017.
Carpenter, a sophomore, won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 51.31 seconds and Lloyd, a sophomore, took first in the 50 freestyle in 20.28.
Carpenter and Lloyd also swam on St. Charles’ winning 200 medley relay team with juniors Wyatt Julian and Andrew Zarick.
Carpenter (1:36.21) narrowly missed a third gold medal, touching the wall .08 of a second behind St. Xavier’s Thackston McMullan (1:36.13) in the 200 freestyle immediately after swimming a leg on St. Charles’ 200 medley relay.
Lloyd and Carpenter also took home silver medals as part of the runner-up 200 freestyle relay team (1:21.55) that included Zarick and sophomore Brad King. St. Xavier won the event by .25 of a second.
Julian added three top-seven finishes in the 100 backstroke (fourth), 100 butterfly (seventh) and 400 freestyle relay (seventh). Other members of the 400 free relay were Zarick, King and sophomore Jonathan Malouf.
Lloyd and King secured fifth and 10th, respectively, in the 100 freestyle and sophomore Ayden Fortney took 15th in the 500 freestyle.
In the Division II boys meet, Columbus St. Francis DeSales and Columbus Bishop Watterson tied for 33rd with 24 points each.
Watterson junior Jacob Rider placed fourth in the 100 backstroke and ninth in the 200 freestyle. DeSales sophomore Luke DeFrancisco was fourth in the 200 individual medley and ninth in the 100 backstroke.
In the Division II girls competition, Newark Catholic compiled 23 points for 29th place and Columbus Bishop Hartley tied for 43rd with nine points.
Newark Catholic junior Isabella Pribonic took fifth in the 100 breaststroke and ninth in the 200 individual medley. Hartley’s 200 medley relay team of junior Ava Dyer, sophomores Skylar Richards and Claire Bahlmann and senior Allie Gunsorek was 13th and Dyer added a 16th-place result in the 100 backstroke.
