CANTON—Hawken University senior Sarah Popal led a group of Chagrin Valley Conference swimmers to the podium at the 2024 OHSAA Division II State Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday.
Popard earned All-Ohio honors in four sports, led by winning the state championship in the 500-yard freestyle for the second year in a row. She won that competition with a time of 4 minutes, 54.91 seconds. She also led the Hawks to two runner-up finishes in two relays and took third in the 200-yard freestyle (1:53.04).
“It’s a lot of fun,” Popal said. “It's a great environment, so I was happy to come out here and swim. I never thought I could swim this well, so I'm really happy to be able to come out here with my friends and swim again.'' .”
Last winter, Popal won the 500-yard freestyle state title in 4:53.77 and was eager to defend his title.
“I just told myself to try my hardest,” Popal said. “If I worked hard last year, worked hard this year, and continued to do it consistently, everything was going to fall into place.”
Alaina Pizarro, Nina Newton, and Savannah Hirsch teamed with Popal to take second place in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:47.20, and Addie Prus, Carys Edgar, Hirsch, and Popal took second place in the 400-yard free. 2nd place in style. The relay time was 3 minutes 33.76 seconds.
Newton, Emma Salerno, Pruce and Hirsch placed second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:37.15, and the Hawks also improved in three other events as a team en route to a runner-up finish.
Newton placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.69), fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (52.02), and Edgar sixth in the 500-yard freestyle (5:05.04).
In the men's competition, Hawken University's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Daniel Hsu, Akil Perli, Will Ross, and Preston Woolley led the CVC athletes with a time of 3:16.08, taking third place and winning the 200 meters. The group took 5th place. -1:28.49 in the yard freestyle relay.
Perry's Brody Hicks placed sixth in two events, the 100-yard butterfly (50.51 seconds) and the 100-yard backstroke (51.89 seconds), and Beachwood's 200-yard medley relay team included Kevin Chang, Benjamin Kayerever and Derek Huang. It became. Colin Elwell placed 6th in 1:38.50.
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