Magnificat senior Allison Kay (File photo by Larry Bennet)

Kay floats like a butterfly and takes home a gold medal, Streaks finish 7th
By Zachary Dzurick
Sports
Published March 2, 2005

Magnificat finished seventh in the state at the D-1 state meet last weekend in Canton. The Blue Streaks totaled 98 points which improved on last year's 79 points and ninth-place finish. The Streaks were the highest placing team from Cuyahoga County, and Akron Firestone was the only school from the northern part of the state to finish higher.

Senior Allison Kay shined at the meet. She was second in the 200 IM and won her first state title in the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 55.0. Her split of 23.20 was also the fastest of any swimmer in the 200 free relay, which helped the Streaks to a sixth-place finish.

Magnificat coach Jonathan Hurst was very happy with Kay and his entire team.

"We scored 19 more points than last year, and it was the second highest total in my seven years as a coach," Hurst said. "A lot of it was because of Allison. She scored 37 points. I am really happy for her. Allison is so fast that she could have been a difficult person to coach, but she is not at all. She is very team orientated. She was excited to get the gold but just as happy to get the team the points."

To hammer home that point, it was only recently that it even occurred to Kay that she could be a state champion.

"It didn't cross my mind that I could be a state champion until I saw the results of the district meets," Kay said. "It didn't sink in while I was in the pool, it wasn't until I was on the podium."

Kay was very happy with how her teammates performed.

"We did well as a team when you consider that we only had 11 girls at the meet," Kay said. "Many of them were underclassmen there for the first time and they were so excited to be there. Everyone did awesome."

Kay has accepted a scholarship to Indiana. She said it was a bit bittersweet to swim her last meet for Magnificat.

"It is a little sad that it was my last meet in high school, but I guess it was a good ending," Kay said.

Kay was joined in the 200 free relay by sophomore Ashley Mrugacz, junior Elaina Suba and junior Stephanie Bagi. The 400 free relay team of Kay, Suba, Stephanie and Alex Bagi finished seventh. Suba also finished eighth in the 100 back.

"Elaina made the finals for the first time in her career," Hurst said. "It was quite an accomplishment. As a team, we performed well and I am happy with the team score and our effort"

River cracks top 10
The Rocky River girls team finished ninth at the D-2 state meet in Canton. Coach Kyle Schultz was pleased with his team's performance.

"I was hoping for a top-10 finish and we squeezed in at ninth," Schultz said. "I am proud of what we did with what we had. I was impressed with how during the finals at night everybody improved in their time and place. We swam faster and beat people that were ahead of them. Hallie English in the 500 moved up to ninth as did Krista Hanson in the breast. The 200 free relay moved up from 14th to 12th. We picked up points through gutsy swimming."

The River relay teams finished sixth in the 400 free, 12th in the 200 free and 13th in the 200 medley. Senior Hallie English concluded her fine career with a 9th place finish in the 500 free and 11th in the 200 free. Junior Krista Hanson was ninth in the breastroke. Sophomore Katie Scherry was 13th in the 100 butterfly, Molly Stark was 17th in the breastroke. English, Hanson and Scherry were joined by senior Annie Emery on the 400 free team.

Bobby Pampush swam his last meet as Pirate by finishing 20th in both the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly.

Schultz said that English, Emery and Pampush will be missed.

"They provided a lot of leadership," Schultz said. "They were great examples for our young kids to see how to be at an elite swimmer level. I will miss them."

Sophomores Danny Lammer and Brandon Tabor and juniors Andrew McCready and Charles Pelini competed in the 200 free. They were the first male swimmers to compete for Westlake since 1980.

Freshman Emily Splain, junior Aubree Bailey and sophomore Jenni Smith and Lauren Schaefer competed in the 400 free. Splain also participated in the 100 back.

Coach Jim Walsh is confident the trip will pay dividends in many more return trips.

"It was great," Walsh said. "This is one of the best meets in the country with all of the Olympians and record holders to come out of it. The guys have not gone down for a long time. It was something we wanted to accomplish. I am sure now they know that it can be done and they can work for it. Next year, they want to make the finals. This will help even those who didn't go to states. We will have more fun and be more focused next year."

Team captain Charles Pelini agreed.

"Westlake doesn't have that much of a history at states and we wanted this to be the year," Pelini said. "Everyone for both the boys and girls relays will be back. A chance to take the experience to repeat it next year is phenomenal. We have already set plans based on what we learned at state. We were able to look at other relays and what it takes to make the finals. We can look at individual (times) and say this is where I want to be next year or in two years. It was a lot of fun."